4th Circuit in Padilla case complains about Bush admin. media manipulation

from the opinion:

JOSE PADILLA,
Petitioner - Appellee,
versus
C. T. Naval Brig.,
Respondent - Appellant.

{snip}

In one instance, immediately after we had
initially declined to act on the government’s transfer motion,
these concerns were detailed in the press and attributed to
former and current Administration officials speaking on the
condition of anonymity. It was even reported that the government
had considered transfer and criminal prosecution of Padilla
before its argument in this court that military detention of
Padilla was necessary in the interest of national security. No
such explanations have been provided to the court, however.

It should go without saying that we cannot rest our
decisions on media reports of statements from anonymous
government sources regarding facts relevant to matters pending
before the court, nor should we be required to do so or to
speculate as to facts based upon such reports. The information
that the government would provide to the media with respect to
facts relevant to a pending litigation, it should be prepared to
provide to the court.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/documents/padilla_v_hanft_122105.pdf

The tone of the whole document was seething.

I think our feckless leader is in real trouble now.

because of the earlier ruling of Hamid that Gonzales cited.

They said that they thought the attempt to moot the case by Bush was an attempt to avoid SC review.

"As for the first of these reported concerns, we would regard
the intentional mooting by the government of a case of this
import out of concern for Supreme Court consideration not as
legitimate justification but as admission of attempted avoidance
of review. The government cannot be seen as conducting
litigation with the enormous implications of this litigation --
litigation imbued with significant public interest -- in such a
way as to select by which forum as between the Supreme Court of
the United States and an inferior appellate court it wishes to be
bound."

They have left the impression
that the government may even have come to the belief that the
principle in reliance upon which it has detained Padilla for this
time, that the President possesses the authority to detain enemy
combatants who enter into this country for the purpose of
attacking America and its citizens from within, can, in the end,
yield to expediency with little or no cost to its conduct of the
war against terror –- an impression we would have thought the
government likewise could ill afford to leave extant. And these
impressions have been left, we fear, at what may ultimately prove
to be substantial cost to the government’s credibility before the
courts, to whom it will one day need to argue again in support of
a principle of assertedly like importance and necessity to the
one that it seems to abandon today.

They are going to get their but kicked in the Supreme Court.

about all of the power Bush has as a result of the Hamid ruling on the authority inherent in the congressional Authorization to Use Military Force in the 'War on Terror'. This panel says they are a breath away from reversing their earlier ruling that allowed Bush to detain Padilla indefinitely without trial which would give Bush no recourse other than to return to the Supreme Court. He's afraid to because He's been interpreting their Hamid ruling more broadly than I think the Court intended, and they almost certainly expect the SC to call them on it.

noted it was a strong rebuke of the administration.


The want the Supreme Court to review it.

Wed Dec 21, 5:43 PM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20051221/pl_usnw/statement_of_tasia_scolinos_in_response_to_fourth_circuit_s_orderregarding_transfer_of_jose_padilla156_xml

To: National Desk

Contact: U.S.
Department of Justice, 202-514-2007 or 202-514-1888

WASHINGTON, Dec. 21 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Following is a statement released today of Tasia Scolinos, director of Public Affairs (DOJ), in response to the fourth circuit's order regarding the transfer of Jose Padilla into the criminal justice system:

"We are disappointed that the court has denied the unopposed motion to transfer Jose Padilla to the criminal justice system to face the terrorism charges currently pending against him. The President's authority to detain enemy combatants, which the Fourth Circuit has upheld, should not be viewed as an obstacle to an exercise of the government's undoubted authority to prosecute federal crimes, including those related to terrorism. The Department is in the process of reviewing the court's order and will continue to consider all options with respect to pursuing the criminal charges as expeditiously as possible."