No Padilla response today
on Nov 28, 2005 at 3:45 pm
The Supreme Court has given the federal government an extra 18 days to submit its response to the appeal by Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen who is seeking to challenge his designation as an “enemy combatant” in the war on terrorism. The government had been scheduled to file its response Monday, but obtained an extension last week, until Dec. 16. The extension only appeared on the Court’s electronic docket after the holiday last week; it was granted last Wednesday.
Padilla has been held for nearly three and a half years in a Navy brig in Charleston, S.C. As his appeal moved forward in the Supreme Court, the Justice Department decided to remove him from military custody, and obtained an indictment of him last week in an already pending case against others in federal court in Miami. His transfer from military to civilian custody is awaiting action by the Fourth Circuit on a government request for permission to do so.
The Department has announced that, in its reply to the Supreme Court, it will urge the Court to dismiss the case as moot because of the changed circumstances in his status. President Bush, who designated Padilla an “enemy combatant” on June 9, 2002, on Nov. 20 issued a new order to transfer Padilla to civilian custody. The new order, Bush said, “supersedes” the order naming Padilla a combatant. His defense attorneys, however, have said they have no assurance that he would not be so designated again in the future. They thus will argue that his Supreme Court appeal is not moot.
