News Release

December 18, 2003

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Cato Legal Experts Available to Comment on Today's Padilla Ruling

WASHINGTON--Cato constitutional experts Robert Levy and Timothy Lynch are available for media interviews following today's federal appeals court ruling requiring the release of Jose Padilla from military custody within 30 days.

After the ruling, Levy made the following comments:

"Today's decision in Padilla v. Rumsfeld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit takes a giant step toward redressing the Bush administration's most egregious abuse of civil liberties--the indefinite detention of a U.S. citizen suspected of terrorism, but not charged with any violation.

"Jose Padilla supposedly plotted to detonate a 'dirty bomb.' Since his capture at O'Hare Airport more than a year and a half ago, he has been held incommunicado in a military brig. He may deserve the treatment he has received--maybe worse. But that is not the point. When American citizens are taken into custody, they have the right to an attorney, to a speedy and public trial, and to be informed of the nature and cause of their detention. Those constitutional guarantees have now been affirmed by a federal appellate court, which has directed the administration to charge Padilla with criminal infractions, hold him as a material witness, or release him within 30 days.

"Under the rationale endorsed by the administration, anyone could wind up imprisoned by the military with no way to assert his innocence. Fortunately, the judiciary has interceded and reminded the executive branch that it may not invoke such powers unilaterally. Both Congress and the courts have important roles to play. James Madison, in Federalist No. 47, put it bluntly: 'The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands ... may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.'"

The Cato Institute filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of Padilla last July.

Levy, a senior fellow in constitutional studies at Cato, has written several articles on Padilla's confinement, including "Jose Padilla: No Charges and No Trial, Just Jail," and "Citizen Padilla: Dangerous Precedents."

Lynch, director of Cato's Project on Criminal Justice, is the author of a policy analysis, Breaking the Vicious Cycle: Preserving Our Liberties While Fighting Terrorism.