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Supreme Court considers suit over 2001 detention of Muslims
Court News |
2017/01/14 00:00
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Ahmer Abbasi speaks softly as he describes the strip searches, the extra shoves, the curses that he endured in a federal jail in Brooklyn following the Sept. 11 attacks.
"I don't think I deserved it," Abbasi said during a telephone interview with The Associated Press from his home in Karachi, Pakistan.
Abbasi's quiet, matter-of-fact tone belies his determination, even after 15 years, to seek justice in American courts — provided the Supreme Court will let him.
The justices on Wednesday are hearing an appeal from former Attorney General John Ashcroft, former FBI Director Robert Mueller and other former U.S. officials that seeks to shut down the lawsuit that human rights lawyers have filed on behalf of Abbasi and others over their harsh treatment and prolonged detention.
"Somebody has to be accountable, somebody has to be responsible," said Abbasi, 42, who works in real estate in Pakistan.
The former officials, including the top immigration enforcement officer and the warden and deputy warden at the New York City jail, say it should not be them.
"Senior government officials should not be regularly second-guessed by lawsuits seeking money damages from them in their personal capacity," said Richard Samp, chief counsel at the Washington Legal Foundation and author of a brief from four former attorneys general.
Abbasi was among more than 80 men who were picked up in the days and weeks following Sept. 11 on immigration violations. Until then, he said he had been "living the American dream" since coming from Pakistan in 1993. He was living in Jersey City, New Jersey, across the river from Manhattan and driving a taxi in New York.
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Woman charged in twin's Hawaii death due in Albany court
U.S. Court News |
2016/12/22 00:36
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A woman accused of killing her twin sister by driving their SUV off a cliff in Hawaii is expected to clear the way for her extradition from upstate New York.
Alexandria Duval is expected to waive her right to an extradition hearing in an Albany court on Friday morning. Duval's lawyer says she wants to get back to Hawaii and defend herself against a second-degree murder charge.
Authorities in Hawaii say Duval was driving an SUV in May with her sister, Anastasia, in the passenger seat when the vehicle crashed into a rock wall and plunged about 200 feet.
The 38-year-old traveled to upstate New York after an initial indictment stemming from the fatal crash was dismissed by a judge earlier this year. She was arrested in Albany last month. |
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Supreme Court pauses Alabama execution of convicted murderer
Legal Line News |
2016/12/22 00:36
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The U.S. Supreme Court late Thursday temporarily paused Alabama's plans to execute a man convicted of killing a convenience store clerk, after defense lawyers argued that a judge unfairly imposed the death penalty after a jury recommended life in prison.
The court had narrowly ruled just a short while earlier Thursday evening that the execution could proceed, although four liberal justices said they would have halted the execution. However, the court then issued a temporary stay — its second of the evening — as attorneys for the condemned inmate quickly sought a reconsideration after that narrow decision.
While the whirlwind of judicial activity unfolded, Ronald Bert Smith Jr., 45, remained steps away from the prison chamber where he was scheduled to receive a lethal injection Thursday evening for the Nov. 8, 1994, shooting death of Huntsville store clerk Casey Wilson. It would be Alabama's second execution this year if carried out. |
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Arkansas Court Upholds Gay Marriage Birth Certificate Law
Court News |
2016/12/21 00:36
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Arkansas' highest court on Thursday threw out a judge's ruling that could have allowed all married same-sex couples to get the names of both spouses on their children's birth certificates without a court order, saying it doesn't violate equal protection "to acknowledge basic biological truths."
The state Supreme Court also issued a rare admonishment to Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox, saying he made "inappropriate remarks" in his ruling that struck down the birth certificate law. Fox had cited the U.S. Supreme Court's decision legalizing gay marriage in his ruling last year that said married same-sex couples should have both names listed on their children's birth certificates, just as heterosexual married couples do, without requiring a court order.
In the state Supreme Court's decision Thursday, the justices sided with the state attorney general's office, saying Arkansas has a vested interest in listing biological parents on birth certificates.
"What is before this court is a narrow issue of whether the birth-certificate statutes as written deny the appellees due process," Justice Josephine Linker Hart wrote in the court's majority opinion. "...In the situation involving the female spouse of a biological mother, the female spouse does not have the same biological nexus to the child that the biological mother or the biological father has. It does not violate equal protection to acknowledge basic biological truths."
Cheryl Maples, who sued on behalf of three same-sex couples, said she hasn't decided yet whether to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The three couples who sued were allowed to amend their children's birth certificates last year under a ruling issued by Fox. |
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