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For Immediate Release
Contact: Susan Lehman, (212) 998-6318,Jeanine Plant-Chirlin, (212) 998-6289 or (646) 265-7721

Supreme Court Case First Major Challenge of Bush Counterterrorism Policy for Obama Administration

WASHINGTON

Today, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law filed a
brief urging the Supreme Court to repudiate the Bush Administration's
extraordinary claim to be able to seize and detain citizens and lawful
aliens from US soil without the Constitution's requirement of a
criminal trial in the case of Al-Marri v. Pucciarelli.

Al-Marri
is the first major legal challenge in 2009 to Bush Administration
counterterrorism policies. Its outcome determine whether those policies
will continue, or in their central measure, be abandoned.

"This is a litmus-test case," noted Aziz Huq, director of the Brennan
Center for Justice's Liberty and National Security, "Will the Bush
Administration's broadest claims of authority to detain without trial
survive the '08 election?"

At issue in Al-Marri v. Pucciarelli
is the President's legal authority to seize a legal U.S. resident on
U.S. soil and have him detained by the military as an "enemy
combatant."

Mr. al-Marri, a citizen of Qatar and legal U.S.
resident, was arrested in Peoria, Illinois, in 2001 as a material
witness in the FBI's investigation of 9/11. In 2002, he was charged
with credit card fraud and other criminal offenses. Mere days before
his criminal trial was due to commence, in June 2003, President Bush
designated him an "enemy combatant," and, without any hearing or
notice, had him moved to a Navy Brig in South Carolina, where the
government has subjected him to torture and other cruel treatment. At
the time of Mr. al-Marri's detention, he had been in solitary
conferment for eighteen months. Six years later, Mr. al-Marri still
remains in solitary confinement without criminal charge or trial.

In December 5, 2008, the Supreme Court of the United States of America
granted Mr. al-Marri's petition for certiorari, and agreed to hear the
case. The Government has 30 days to respond to today's filings. Oral
arguments are scheduled for March. Additional information and court
documents can be found on the Brennan Center for Justice web site by clicking here.

For additional comment or to schedule an interview with Aziz Huq, contact Susan Lehman, Communications Director, at susan.lehman@nyu.edu or (212) 998-6318.

The Brennan Center for Justice is a nonpartisan law and policy institute. We strive to uphold the values of democracy. We stand for equal justice and the rule of law. We work to craft and advance reforms that will make American democracy work, for all.

(646) 292-8310