Supreme Court Refuses To Hear Case of German Allegedly Abducted by CIA
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Tuesday terminated a lawsuit from a man who claims he was abducted and tortured by the CIA, effectively endorsing Bush administration arguments that state secrets would be revealed if the case were allowed to proceed.
Khaled el-Masri, 44, alleged that he was kidnapped by CIA agents in Europe and held in an Afghan prison for four months in a case of mistaken identity.
The administration has not publicly acknowledged that el-Masri was detained, and lower courts dismissed his suit after the administration asserted that state secrets would be revealed if the lawsuit were not blocked. The justices rejected his appeal without comment.
The case had been seen as a test of the administration’s legal strategy to stop it and several other national security lawsuits by invoking the doctrine of state secrets. Another lawsuit over the administration’s warrantless wiretapping program, also dismissed on state secrets grounds, still is pending before the justices.
A coalition of groups favoring greater openness in government says the Bush administration has used the state secrets privilege much more often than its predecessors.
At the height of Cold War tensions between the United States and the former Soviet Union, U.S. presidents used the state secrets privilege six times from 1953 to 1976, according to OpenTheGovernment.org. Since 2001, it has been used 39 times, enabling the government to unilaterally withhold documents from the court system, the group said.
El-Masri’s case centers on the CIA’s “extraordinary rendition” program, in which terrorism suspects are captured and taken to foreign countries for interrogation. Human rights groups have heavily criticized the program.
President Bush has repeatedly defended the policies in the war on terror, saying as recently as last week that the U.S. does not engage in torture.
El-Masri, a German citizen of Lebanese descent, says he was mistakenly identified as an associate of the Sept. 11 hijackers and was detained while attempting to enter Macedonia on New Year’s Eve 2003.
He claims that CIA agents stripped, beat, shackled, diapered, drugged and chained him to the floor of a plane for a flight to Afghanistan. He says he was held for four months in a CIA-run prison known as the “salt pit” in the Afghan capital of Kabul. The lawsuit sought damages of at least $75,000.
The U.S. government has neither confirmed nor denied el-Masri’s account. But German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that U.S. officials acknowledged that El-Masri’s detention was a mistake.
El-Masri’s account also has been bolstered by European investigations and U.S. news reports. In January, German prosecutors issued arrest warrants for 13 suspected CIA agents who allegedly took part in the operation against him.
El-Masri’s lawyers also tried to use a comment by former CIA director George Tenet to show that both the program and el-Masri’s case are well-known to the public.
Rather than refuse to comment when asked about El-Masri’s claims, Tenet told CNN in May, “I don’t believe what he says is true.”
The state secrets privilege arose from a 1953 Supreme Court ruling that allowed the executive branch to keep secret, even from the court, details about a military plane’s fatal crash.
Three widows sued to get the accident report after their husbands died aboard a B-29 bomber, but the Air Force refused to release it claiming that the plane was on a secret mission to test new equipment. The high court accepted the argument, but when the report was released decades later there was nothing in it about a secret mission or equipment.
The case is El-Masri v. U.S., 06-1613.
© 2007 The Associated Press
Too many Nazis on the court. Thank the Dims for approving them.
How did the justices vote?
I’m making a list of the American enemies of America and checking it twice. It’s already very very long…
AMERICA DOESNT TORTURE….WHAT WAS ABU GARIB ?SUNDAY SCHOOL FOR HEATHENS ?
Now official: the right not to be deprived of liberty without legal process, forbidden by the Constitution, is unenforceable when evidence in the case is deemed a state secret.
In foreclosing this fundamental right, the Supreme Court has effectively repealed the rule of law. And it follows that if our government is not bound by laws, neither are we.
Also worth noting: if the government can take your liberty without legal process, they can also take your life and property, which are part of the same “due process” clause that the court refused to enforce. Officials of our government now have the same right to jail and murder you as the Gestapo once had over citizens of the Third Reich.
The justices who voted not to hear the case need to be impeached and removed from the court for treachery to the Constitution.
The Repugs got organized and took over all branches of federal and state governments. We’re still fighting among ourselves…
>We’re still fighting among ourselves…
Actually, that’s not true anymore. Look at the polls for both Dems and Rep(ugs) - they’re all seriously in the toilet. In my opinion, we’re building a movement beyond the two party system, which is a long time coming. Where you see infighting, I see healing, reconciliation and above all, all of us finding a way to contribute that has meaning (personal/social/spiritual et. al.) - and when i say spiritual, i mean in a way that reflects *personal* values, not religious creed, or the lack of one.
Under this administration, there are no “state secrets” that are legal, paricularly pertaining to torture.
This is Bush’s dream of a unitary executive in full flower with the addition of Roberts and Alito to the SCOTUS bench.
There does not appear to be a list of dissenting justices in the decision to refuse to hear the case because “state secrets” were involved.
http://www.scotusblog.com/wp/uncategorized/court-grants-no-new-cases-2/
As noted above, the Supreme Court has effectively repealed the rule of law in the name of “state secrets”. When the highest court in the land proclaims that the law no longer applies, it’s time to take the law into your own hands.
Absolutely appalling. What evil.
I’d like to think we’ve finally reached a point where whenever a President drums up the excuse of “National Security”, the term is synonymous with “I’m LYING.”
Can we at least all agree on that? Can we at least press the government to come clean and say “Look, we’re conducting illegal and unconstitutional activities.”
It’s not like anything would change. Neocons would still defend this practice, and the democrats the rest of the public would do nothing about anyway.
They might as well come clean and admit they’re shitting all over this country, people don’t care
State secrets? You mean the state secrets that will deny a citizen of this country their rights? Or state secrets that will continue to allow corporations/private businesses the right to kill others without repercussions?(different issue?)
Or wait, state secrets that allow continued torture and no due process?
The whole state secrets issue is false. We have yet to catch Osama. We have yet to follow through on ending the war on terror. And the courts have only allowed this renegade administration to continue to pull the wool over the eyes of all people in this world…
I didn’t know you could declare war on a noun. The rest is US of I hegemony on what remains of us. Let them that cause the war let them that do the fight. As always, the poor who want to uplift themselves (and are not sociopaths) are those genuinly patriotic and in the Front Line. Been there. God help America - land of the free and the bold. My arse.
What used to be called “The American Dream” — I truly fear has come to an end. Except for the yellowing pages of a shredded document once known as a Consitution — the great dream has been subverted and overthown — violently! So much of what has recently transpired was at one time called an act of “treason.” Lincoln’s claim of “Government for the people, by the people, and of the people” is now every bit as vandalized as Martin Luther King’s vision of “I have a Dream! Jefferson’s (and company) Declaration of Indepenence which celebrated “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” - has been folded into a paper airplane by high-priced and corrupted corporate and military contractors.
If you haven’t noticed — we live in the bold, new day of the New World Order. Reagan’s election contracted the architects — Bush’s dishonest, electoral takeover — signed the papers for handing our country over to the wrecking crew. From day-one, we Americans have endlessly heard the daily crash of the concrete, wrecking ball into the stucture and infrastructure of our social democratic experiment. Our treasury has been emptied into the hands and accounts of vandals. And, these creatures who call themselves Democrats — aren’t so much cheerleaders as they are silenced enablers who go along by rubber stamping.
We live in a country where people now get kidnapped, disappeared, imprisoned and tortured for doing what was at one time expected of simply being a true, living American!!
whitewatersally, America doesn’t always torture. Sometimes it outsources it.
Remember the Gore v Bush court? That was before Alito and Roberts. Partisan court. Surprise surprise.
Welcome to the one party “War Party” Government.
By the Corporations for the Corporations.
The Constitution is Dead.
The Bill of Rights is a Historical Document.
If you want to understand what the USA is about
to go through start reading how the Nazi Party
took over Germany.
ICE, and Blackwater are the Stormtroopers of 1933 Germany.
Welcome to your Fascist State.
America Public will wake up in chains.
Sweet dreams
STeP FOUR & JEFFREY COURION: Excellent postings.
As John Dean noted, these authoritarians know each other, have their code words down, and truly believe in a totalitarian-style top-down rule. They must worship the concept more than the individual they’ve bequeathed these “unitary executive” powers to… can thinking persons really allot their treasure to one so absolutely lacking in any moral character or semblance of decency? Sure. It’s also about worship of mammon, this Supreme Court being the enablers of big business, the corporations sychophants, as devoid of justice as Bush is compassion, honor, or intelligence.
The legacy of our nation’s many imperialistic adventures has come home to roost as these snide political operatives who are robbing us of everything worth having; and still the population for the most part sleeps, or takes in its dietary fare of faux “new” filler and thinks it’ll all be okay.
Ruth Montgomery wrote a book in l982, where she stated that the anti-Christ would be elected president and he’s wreak havoc. Sounds about right. Indeed a devil’s bargain has been had and the full impact hardly felt.
This is the last straw! It’s all over folks. End of story. It was nice while it lasted.
There will be no uprising of the people until they personally feel the pain. And that’s comming to a neighborhood near you very soon. The economy is on the verge of imploding. The attack on Iran is unstoppable and will just speed up the process.
I’ve never been a “doomsday” kind of person. I always thought that with enough effort that “we the people” could ensure that the Constitution and the rule of law would prevail. At this point it doesn’t even matter how we got here or who is to blame. Funny thing is that I’m not even depressed anymore. Just resigned to the inevitable. I will continue to fight til the very end, but I know that my efforts are in vein. The tide will not turn. The wave is cresting and all we can do is hang on.
Get to know your neighbors. Stock up on the essentials that you will need for you and yours. Make sure you have a large variety of seeds for the garden you and your community will need. We’re all in this sinking boat together and everybody needs to help bail to keep us afloat.
Peace and good luck!
Abolish the Supreme Court along with the entire executive branch.
“Checks and balances” — what a perpetual phantom. There never have been “Checks & balances” — it’s always been a scam in the land of Barnum.
In the Constitution, regarding the president, it states:
Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:–”I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States,and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
Let’s see: destroyed habeus corpus, destroyed search and seizure safeguards, destroyed privacy safeguards, encouraged and condoned cruel and unusual punishment (and torture)–we could go on and on about Ole King George. He has an excuse, however, he has no “ABILITY” and as such, cannot really be held accountable–even by this oath. However, what’s the excuse for the Supreme Court Justices?? Oh yeah,I forgot, I read somewhere they are Opus Dei and they like to beat themselves with whips. What’s a little torture among friends? Beware of those who have a strong desire to punish–they have punitive consciences, and need lots of time on a therapist’s couch. Like Hitler, they take out their perversions on others.
So much for Ivy League schools such as Yale. They certainly turn out some more kind of “human being.” This president has no respect for this country’s traditions, governmental forms–my god,habeus corpus goes back before the Magna Charta–amazing how much damage one moran surrounded by Neo-cons can do.
Does anyone know anything good that has come out of Yale??? Just curious?
Elimination of 6 million Jews in Germany was also a “State Secret”
In the USA today, kidnapping and torture are “State Secrets”
Other than the fact that there is no longer a Constituional Government in what used to be the United States of America….what are the “state secrets” which seem to be so important?
We lost something on 9-11 and there was an outcry…well what of 10-9 do you here anything?
Anything at all? Well them turn out the lights for it seems the Party is over. Good night MRS. Callaboose where ever you are.
Folks! Don’t you realize what this means? It’s less about torture than setting up Bush as a unitary executive whose actions may not be checked by Congress or the Courts. They were the very last bastion to stop Bush.
The Supreme Court of the United States has now given Bush the go-ahead on EVERYTHING by agreeing that the administration can’t be sued because of “state secrets”. The administration can’t be investigated. The administration doesn’t have to hand over any documents, even if they admit the government has committed murder. The government can no longer be sued.
All along the Bush administration has been using “state secrets” to cover its illegal actions and block investigations, but now the Supreme Court has given the President carte blanche to do whatever he wishes. The power of Congress and the Courts has effectively been destroyed by the Roberts court.
I think, too, that America died today. The Supreme Court has now officially given Bush authorization to torture innocents and to break any law with impunity by hiding behind “state secrets”.
Could it be they simply can’t afford to open that can of worms? So, they simply didn’t touch it. They notably did not even comment.
As I recall the Catholic Church has used false ‘confessions’ obtained with torture for centuries to seperate the innocent from their assets. Should we expect this Catholic Cabal to act otherwise? I wonder what Wrath Slinger thinks.
We are a country made up of several neighborhood associations.
So which neighborhood gets to keep all of the secrets?
And how does equal protection under the law play out in this?
BUSH IS OVERSTEPPING HIS AUTHORITY,DEMANDING THE RELEASE OF A CONVICTED KILLER IN A TEXAS PRISON.A MEXICAN THAT HAS LIVED IN THE STATES FOR MOST OF HIS LIFE,WAS CONVICTED OF STRANGLING TWO TEENAGE GIRLS TO DEATH.BUSH IS PULLING STRINGS AND DEMANDING HIS RELEASE.BUSH MUST NEED A KILLER OF LITTLE GIRLS FOR HIS PRIVATEMERCENARIEARMY.DONT LET HIM GET AWAY WITH THIS,WHY..WHY..WHY..WONT ANYBODY STOP THIS EVIL VILE FOUL HIDEOUS THING NAMED BUSH !!!! article at watchingamerica and guardian
Anney,
You are right. I’ve been a lawyer in this country for nearly 3 decades, and this decision of the Supreme Court is indeed the last nail in the coffin of what passed for our democracy. With the complete capitulation of the judicial branch of the government today, our democracy has been taken off of its life suport system. Now the U.S. will simply continue its implosion, caused by a combination of fascism, the stupor of the people, the ruinous greed of the rich, warmongering and disastrous environmental policies. And at this point, I am glad. America deserves to die. It needs to die so that the menace that it is to this planet can be neutralized.
But as I’ve said elsewhere, on the bright side, the U.S. is now so weakened that it cannot keep its iron boot on the entire rest of the world, and people’s governments are rising up in places such as Bolivia and Venezuela, where we would have crushed them aborning in the past. The future of humanity lies not with this country but with others where people have awakened to their humanity and their power. Habla Espanol?
Termite: yo hablo un poquito, pero yo puedo aprenderlo. Recuerda usted la pelicula se llama “El Día Despues Mañana?
My Spanish is very bad but I can learn. Remember the movie: The Day After Tomorrow when the ice age hit and people in the States had to go South? How was that for justice?
the supreme court heard sensitive habeas cases during the civil war.but,then again,the taney court did not appoint lincoln president.the silence of the court is,as stated above,the scariest aspect of this matter.it speaks volumes.our government is to authentic bourg. democracy,what fazolis is to real italian food.
Given that they could not even get the four justices needed to agree to hear the case, I think that this might mean that the legal point of view from a Supreme Court standpoint is that it falls within the President’s authority to make the decision about “state secrets” in this case, and that a decision about the inappropriateness of the President’s choice is a political matter. In other words, I think the Supreme Court probably thinks that impeachment is the proper remedy if the people think this is an inappropriate “state secret”. I suggest that you call your representatives to let them know that this should be (another) reason to proceed with impeachment of Bush.
Do you remember what Barbra Streisand said were the three rreasons we needed to vote for Gore in the 200 elections? The answer: 1. The Supreme Court, 2. The Supreme Court, 3. The Supreme Court! And now with Roberts and Alito to join with Thomas and “what’s his name”, it looks like we can kiss our democratic form of governmental justice goodbye and greet the jack-booted fascists!
It was probably inevitable that the forces of greed and power would eventually triumph over the principles our nation was founded on. For many years, a common statement has been that this country will not fall because of others actions, but will be destroyed from the inside. It seems that theory is about to play out and the saddest thing is that so many of our citizens are preoccupied with their pursuit of pleasure and material gain that they are blind to what is happening. It was also disapointing to watch our religious groups blindly follow a group bent on their own gain and ready to destroy all our country ever stood for. It looks like all we can do is load up the guns and hug our families and friends.
termite - I believe you are right - this country needs to die.
“The administration has not publicly acknowledged that el-Masri was detained, and lower courts dismissed his suit after the administration asserted that state secrets would be revealed if the lawsuit were not blocked. ”
Huh? They don’t acknowledge that they detained him, but it would reveal state secrets if it went to trial. Too much.
Like you say, time to start practicing our Spanish.
Barbara Streisand? Who gives a fuck what she says?
So glad I moved to Germany, where the CONSERVATIVE chancellor meets with Bush regarding closing GITMO. Oh the irony, and how the pendulum swings.
With this precedence how far can they go?
The 2008 elections will be canceled.
On what grounds?
Can’t tell you, it’s a state secret.
Detention camps for activists for reasons we can’t tell you, again state secrets.
Assignations of foreign officials for unknown reasons such as state secrets.
How long until US citizens can defect to other countries based on humans rights political asylum?
Unbelievable hypocrisy condemning other countries for undemocratic policies like Myanmar.
drift October 10th, 2007 1:10 am
Barbara Streisand? Who gives a fuck what she says?
_______________________
Apparently ALL those of us who liked the convincing pretence that we lived in a democracy where habeus corpus instilled guarded confidence and some reassurance.. Yes, we the lied-to ones, WE GIVE A FUCK what Streisand said!!
What are you gonna do drift? Torture us all??
The most discredited words in the english language:
‘Freedom’, ‘democrocy’, ‘not in the national interest’, ‘justice’, ‘liberation’ and anything to do with arboretums (as in bushes and shrubs.) Oh - and ‘hail to the Chief’.
Feel free to add …
absurd…
like nixon’s “secret” bombing of cambodia, which was obviously well known to the cambodians, shrub’s “state secrets” are common knowledge everywhere in the world but here.
I have little doubt that had el-Masri “confessed” to an evil plot that Cheney/Bush would have no trouble at all in revealing the details in a Rose Garden press conference. Cheney’s torture and rendition and secret prisons are not about fighting a war against terror, they are about creating terror that can be used to grab power.
American values and good “intelligence” are not among Cheney’s priorities – Cheney wants hype-able intelligence (what he really means by “actionable”), the scarier the fabrication the better. Torture is very well suited to producing such “actionable intelligence.” Torture and secret prisons also play a major role in stifling dissent during a country’s descent into fascism. Full rant here: www.spectrumz.com/z/alejandro/why_make_stupid_choice.html
Nacht und Nebel.
Disappearing people now.
REBEL FARMER SAYS:
This is the last straw! It’s all over folks. End of story. It was nice while it lasted. …
Get to know your neighbors. Stock up on the essentials that you will need for you and yours. Make sure you have a large variety of seeds for the garden you and your community will need. We’re all in this sinking boat together and everybody needs to help bail to keep us afloat.
**************
I’ve never been a doomsdayer either, Rebel Farmer … but your words now are right on.
And maybe as we learn to bail together because we have to, something good will come from that eventually.
Such a waste.
Peace.
rebelfarmer,resignation(or the letting go of fear)is the first step toward change..i like your attitude…..your friend,s.
whitewatersally - how about massive resignation coming out of DC?
How about that for a “protest” that could really matter, or at least, make it even more obvious what is going on….
Anyhow, who wants to be working for a broken corporation…..
Peace,
Ken Hausle
you know - shut the government down from the inside
its only fair - if you are working for them and the bosses suck, then you have the RIGHT to quit you job.
Lots of you probably have a fair amount of funds saved up anyhow, so why not???
That is what i would do, but i already quit my old job.
Peace,
Ken Hausle
of course, they can keep trying to find qualified staff
let the market decide…
By the way: this is my last post here on this thread (i promise), and the above 4 posts should be considered a POEM.
Peace,
Ken Hausle
No, Observant Interloper, not everyone, just you. I’m going to lock you in a room and force you to listen to the soundtrack of ‘Yentl’ over, and over, and over again. Soon you’ll be begging for the tender mercies of a water board treatment.
But being the sadistic jack boot wearing sob I clearly am, I’ll just stand behind the one-way window twirling my handlebar mustache, squinting through my monacle, lean over to the receiver, and turn the volume up to “11.” Then I’ll let just the hint of a crooked smile play across my otherwise emotionless face, and laugh sinisterly.
rebel farmer is right. I would even go so far as to say we are on the road to extinction unless something changes drastically in the next decade.
the point i take away from this story is that the US court will no longer hear claims from imperial subjects, ie, people who are not americans. americans may still be heard, albeit by a military tribunal.
that said, the corporate court and military courts will probably be merged… if things continue on course.
annika
A quote from your post: “the point i take away from this story is that the US court will no longer hear claims from imperial subjects, ie, people who are not americans. americans may still be heard, albeit by a military tribunal.”
Though interesting, that isn’t the basis of the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the case at all. It was refused because the Bush administration is claiming that they can’t be prosecuted because the illegal torture program components are a “state secret”.
Proud American rhetoric about human rights never quite squared with the reality of our country’s genesis in genocide and taking land from its rightful inhabitants. See the Declaration of Independence statement about the “merciless Indian savages.” Not very pretty. Slavery, ditto. I could go on, but that should be enough to show our democracy was based on a very frail reed.
But somehow over the years, an illusion was crafted about the country’s commitment to civil liberties and human rights. As long as one was the right color, one might have believed this.
After the Supreme Court vote in the 2000 elections and the acquiescence of our elected officials in Washington, we were fools if we thought there were going to be any checks and balances in the near future. And once that is lost, more rigged elections or as someone says above, no elections, seem entirely plausible. What we’ve been left with is a self-perpetuating war machine and even the illusion that human rights matter is gone. We are reaping what has been sown in our names.
Spiny Norman: As for contacting my representatives (Alaska), at least one and possibly two, seem to be on the verge of federal indictment for accepting bribes from the oil industry. I’m not sure how that happened, given the current state of affairs, but ironically it is the FBI that has given me a little hope that ALL is not lost.
I’ll probably be arrested for telling this, but what the hell. The state secret that must not be told, on pain of death, is that yeah, we tortured him. That he was the wrong guy makes it even worse. That REALLY must not be told.
I can’t garden worth a shit, so maybe prison food will keep me going until the Iranians take over and save us all.
I love irony.