Court Rules Against Indefinite Detention of U.S. Resident as "Enemy Combatant"

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit has ruled that the Bush administration cannot indefinitely detain a legal U.S. resident it believes to be an al-Qaida sleeper agent simply by declaring him an "enemy combatant." The court ordered that the federal Military Commissions Act does not strip Qatari national Ali al-Marri, who has been in a U.S. Navy brig in Charleston, South Carolina for four years without formal charges filed against him, of his constitutional rights to challenge his accusers in court. Holding that the government had not produced evidence to back up its claim that al-Marri is an "enemy combatant," the court ordered him released from military detention. However, the government can transfer al-Marri to civilian authorities to face criminal charges, initiate deportation proceedings, hold him as a witness in a grand jury proceeding, or detain him for a limited period of time under the Patriot Act.