Rumsfeld seeks to throw out Padilla case
Lawyers for former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld are asking a federal judge in South Carolina to throw out a lawsuit filed by former enemy combatant Jose Padilla, who was subjected to harsh interrogation tactics in a military prison.
A hearing is set for Monday morning before US District Judge Richard Gergel in Charleston, S.C.
The suit charges Mr. Rumsfeld and other Defense Department officials with violating Mr. Padilla鈥檚 civil and constitutional rights.
After being designated an enemy combatant by President Bush in 2002, Padilla, a US citizen, was whisked away from the criminal justice system to an isolation cell and interrogation at the Consolidated US Naval Brig in Charleston. He was held without charge for nearly four years.
The Bush administration sought to justify the action in part by claiming Padilla was plotting with Al-Qaeda to detonate a radiological 鈥渄irty bomb鈥� in a US city. No evidence of such a plot has been presented in court.
Several of the initial sources of information about Padilla were subjected to waterboarding and other coercive and controversial interrogation techniques at secret CIA interrogation centers overseas. Human rights experts consider these techniques a form of torture that can render provided information unreliable.
There is no allegation that Padilla was waterboarded. But his lawyers say he was subject to 鈥渁 vicious program of interrogation.鈥�
Shackled in painful positions
He was confined to an isolation cell for a 21-month regime of sleep and sensory deprivation. The cell had no mattress, blanket, sheet, or pillow. He was frequently shackled in painful stress positions and threatened with immediate execution unless he gave a full confession of his alleged involvement with Al-Qaeda, according of Padilla鈥檚 lawyers.
Padilla鈥檚 treatment by the Bush administration attracted international attention and raised fundamental issues about a president鈥檚 power to strip a US citizen of his or her constitutional rights by designating him an enemy combatant 鈥� even when that citizen was arrested on American soil.
That issue has not reached the US Supreme Court, in part because Padilla was moved backed into the criminal justice system on the eve of the high court considering whether to hear Padilla鈥檚 case. The action mooted the constitutional issues raised by Padilla鈥檚 lawyers.
Padilla was later convicted in a Miami trial of conspiring to provide material support to Al-Qaeda, but the government offered no evidence at trial of what, if anything, Padilla did for the terror group. He is serving a 17-year prison sentence. His conviction is under appeal.
The civil lawsuit in South Carolina seeks to hold US officials accountable for Padilla鈥檚 treatment and the conditions of his confinement during the three and a half years he was held without charge at the brig.
In their briefs to the court, lawyers for Rumsfeld argue that Padilla鈥檚 lawsuit should be dismissed because Padilla lacks the necessary legal standing to sue Rumsfeld and other Defense Department officials.
Presidential immunity cited regarding 'enemy combatants'
Any injuries suffered by Padilla were the result of President Bush鈥檚 authorization that he be treated as an enemy combatant, Rumsfeld鈥檚 lawyers say. The president enjoys complete immunity for those actions, they say, so the suit must be thrown out.
鈥淢ilitary detention is a normal and inevitable incident of an enemy combatant designation,鈥� Rumsfeld鈥檚 lawyers argue in their brief. Padilla鈥檚 assignment to the Charleston brig was 鈥渞outine and appropriate.鈥�
Padilla鈥檚 lawyers counter that Rumsfeld and other officials can be held legally responsible for Padilla鈥檚 conditions of confinement and treatment because they each personally participated in violations of Padilla鈥檚 constitutional rights.
Rumsfeld helped create the policy of holding Padilla in incommunicado detention insulated from any judicial oversight, they charge. Rumsfeld personally authorized the use of harsh interrogation tactics at Guantanamo and directed brig officials to use the same techniques.
The former defense secretary also directed Justice Department officials to produce legal memos that would immunize from criminal prosecution US officials who participated in the detention and interrogation of enemy combatants 鈥� including Padilla, the lawyers say.
Rumsfeld and other Defense Department officials 鈥渨ere privy to regular reports on the interrogation and condition of suspected 鈥榚nemy combatants鈥� held at the brig,鈥� Padilla鈥檚 brief says. 鈥淭hose reports repeatedly drew attention to the devastating psychological effects that the conditions were having on detainees, including Mr. Padilla.鈥�
