Supreme Court to take al-Marri case

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court said yesterday that it would hear the case of accused al-Qaida operative Ali Saleh Kahlan al-Marri, setting up an almost immediate decision for the Obama administration about whether to support President Bush's policies on the chief executive's broad right to detain terrorism suspects.

Al-Marri, a Qatari national who was living legally in Peoria, Ill. when he was arrested in late 2001, was subsequently turned over to the military and has spent more than five years in a Navy brig in Charleston, S.C. The administration says it has evidence that he trained at an al-Qaida camp and was sent to the United States, but he is being held without charges.

His case raises a question with major implications for presidential power and civil liberties: Can the military indefinitely detain a U.S. citizen or legal resident seized on American soil?

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond, Va., ruled in July that the president had the power to detain al-Marri under the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force enacted by Congress in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.

But the court also said that al-Marri could challenge his designation as an enemy combatant before a district court in South Carolina.

Al-Marri is the only person being held in the U.S. under such a designation.

The Bush administration had opposed efforts by al-Marri's attorneys to have the Supreme Court take the case.

It said that al-Marri should first exhaust his options in the lower courts.

The case will probably be heard in March, after President-elect Obama takes office with his new team at the Justice Department.

Although Obama has strongly opposed Bush on terrorism, his views on al-Marri and enemy combatants held inside the United States are unclear. Obama has promised to abolish military commissions under way at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and has said that accused terrorists should be tried in civilian courts or military courts-martial.

Obama's options include backing the administration's current position of broad detention authority.

He could also short-circuit the court's examination by attempting to charge al-Marri in federal court, or trying to deport him to his native country.

Al-Marri, a graduate student when he was arrested in December 2001, is the last of three designated enemy combatants held since 2001.

His case is most similar to that of Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen originally accused of attempting to explode a radiological "dirty bomb" in the United States, because both were arrested inside the United States.

But Padilla was transferred to civilian custody to face terrorism charges before the Supreme Court could take up the military's power to detain him.