WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Monday ordered the Bush administration to either charge or release an American suspected of plotting terrorist attacks with Al Qaeda, saying that his continued confinement after nearly three years would "only offend the rule of law."
The case of Jose Padilla has drawn unusual attention because it pits the rights of a U.S. citizen against the powers of the government to fight the war on terrorism. The government contends that by designating Padi lla an "enemy combatant" -- not a criminal defendant -- and putting him in military custody, it can hold him without charge indefinitely.
He was deemed to be an enemy combatant by President Bush in June 2002, a month after his arrest at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. Officials accused him of participating in a plan to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" in the United States.
Federal prosecutors had hoped to keep the New York native behind bars in an attempt to learn all they could about his reported ties to Al Qaeda and his alleged attempt to scout targets for attack in the U.S..
But Monday's ruling by U.S. District Judge Henry F. Floyd found that Padilla's "indefinite detention without trial" violated his constitutional right to due process and ordered the administration to release him or charge him within 45 days.
"Great decision," said Donna Newman, a New York lawyer representing Padilla. "The Constitution is alive and well and kicking."
Government lawyers, who had no immediate reaction to the order, are likely to appeal the ruling quickly and forestall any immediate release of the man they have portrayed as a grave threat to American security.
The judge noted that prosecutors could either file criminal charges against Padilla within 45 days or declare him a "material witness" to a crime involving other terrorists and hold him in connection with that case.
Floyd, who was appointed by Bush in 2003, rejected the government's position that Padilla was an "enemy combatant" because he was captured during the ongoing war against terrorism.
"The president has no power," the judge said, "neither express nor implied, neither constitutional nor statutory, to hold [Padilla] as an enemy combatant."
Eugene R. Fidell, president of the National Institute of Military Justice, said Monday that Floyd's ruling was illustrative of what he called "the revolt of district judges" who were disturbed by the government's handling of terror suspects.
