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September 8, 2009

Court Rules Ashcroft Can Be Sued for Post-9/11 Detentions
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The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ruled that former
Attorney General John Ashcroft can be personally sued for the wrongful
detention of an innocent US citizen. The court determined that Ashcroft
circumvented the Constitution after the September 11 attacks by using
the federal material witness law to hold Abdullah al-Kidd and other
innocent men without charge. The court said detention of witnesses
without charge was “repugnant to the constitution”.



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