The three-judge panel ruled that President George Bush had the power to detain Mr Padilla, based on the resolution authorising military force which was approved by Congress in the aftermath of the 11 September attacks.
"The exceedingly important question before us is whether the president of the United States possesses the authority to detain militarily a citizen of this country who is closely associated with al-Qaeda," the Virginia court ruling said.
"We conclude that the president does possess such authority," added the ruling written by Judge Michael Luttig, who is seen as one of Mr Bush's possible nominations for the Supreme Court.
A federal judge had ruled earlier this year that Mr Padilla could not be held indefinitely without charge.
Lawyers have argued that the president is exceeding his authority by denying him access to lawyers and courts.
But the government says such detentions are necessary to prevent terrorism in the US.
I'll have to look into this to see how fuzzy the concept of "closely associated" is.
Comments (1)
Is there an RSS feed?
Posted by tim fong | September 10, 2005 02:02 PM
Posted on September 10, 2005 14:02