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| Supreme Court rejects appeal over secret Sept. 11 detentions |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 01/13/2004 |
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The Supreme Court refused Monday to consider whether the government properly withheld names and other details about hundreds of foreigners detained in the weeks and months after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. The high court turned down a request to review the secrecy surrounding detainees, nearly all Arabs or Muslims, who were picked up in the United States following the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Many if not most of the more than 700 detainees at issue in the case have since been deported after being held in county jails in New Jersey and New York. The Hudson County Jail and Kearny and the Passaic County Jail in Paterson were two of the largest repositories for the detainees. Some picked up after Sept. 11 were charged with crimes, and others were held as material witnesses. Only Zacarias Moussaoui, who was detained before the Sept. 11 attacks, is being prosecuted in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks. The Washington-based Center for National Security Studies has been critical of the Bush administration responses after Sept. 11 and sued to learn names and other basic information about the detainees. The appeal raises constitutional questions under the First Amendment right to freedom of speech and freedom of the press, and legal questions under the federal Freedom of Information Act. Twenty-three news organizations and media groups, including The Associated Press, joined in asking the high court to hear the case. The high court's decision not to review the case represents a victory for the Bush administration. The Bush administration has argued that releasing names and details of the arrests would give terrorists a window on the U.S. post-Sept. 11 terror investigation. A federal appeals court sided with the Bush administration last year. |
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