Jose Padilla

WHATEVER ELSE HE IS, Jose Padilla is an American citizen. That inescapable fact explains both the Bush administration's decision last week to charge him with a crime -- and the importance of the Supreme Court's upcoming decision on whether to hear his case. The first decision represents a change in course for an administration still struggling, more than four years after the attacks of 9/11, to find a legal strategy in the war against terrorism.

A UC Berkeley law professor who helped the Bush administration create policies to justify harsh interrogation techniques and prolonged detention may not be sued by an American citizen detained under those conditions, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said Jose Padilla, an American citizen arrested in 2002 and declared an "enemy combatant," may not hold professor John Yoo liable for "gross physical and psychological abuse" that Padilla said he suffered during more than three years of military detention.

— Chivas USA and Real Salt Lake played to a 1-1 tie in a Major League Soccer game at Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday night. Ned Grabavoy of Real Salt Lake struck first, opening the scoring in the 67th minute after a corner kick was deflected to him just outside the penalty area of Chivas USA. He volleyed a left-footed shot past the outstretched arms of goalkeeper Dan Kennedy for his second goal this season. Jose Padilla, who had just gone into the game for Chivas USA in the 69th minute, unloaded a 25-yard shot that got past goalkeeper Nick Rimando.

— Chivas USA and Real Salt Lake played to a 1-1 tie in a Major League Soccer game at Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday night. Ned Grabavoy of Real Salt Lake struck first, opening the scoring in the 67th minute after a corner kick was deflected to him just outside the penalty area of Chivas USA. He volleyed a left-footed shot past the outstretched arms of goalkeeper Dan Kennedy for his second goal this season. Jose Padilla, who had just gone into the game for Chivas USA in the 69th minute, unloaded a 25-yard shot that got past goalkeeper Nick Rimando.

Real Salt Lake and Chivas USA battled to a 1-1 draw in Major League Soccer action at Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday night. Ned Grabavoy and Jose Padilla scored second-half goals just four minutes apart for their respective teams. RSL's Grabavoy opened the scoring in the 67th minute after a corner kick was deflected to him just outside the Chivas USA penalty area. He then volleyed a left-footed rocket past the outstretched arms of goalkeeper Dan Kennedy and in for his second goal of the season.

Lawyers for Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen held as an "enemy combatant," asked the Supreme Court on Thursday for the final word on how long the Bush administration could legally hold Americans accused in the war on terrorism without criminal charges or a trial. Padilla has spent more than three years behind bars and has yet to be brought to court. His lawyers said in their petition to the high court that his predicament was blatantly unconstitutional for a U.S. citizen.

Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales indicated Monday that the Justice Department might still file criminal charges against U.S.-born "enemy combatant" Jose Padilla, even if the courts ordered his release. The Justice Department is appealing last week's decision by a federal judge that the Bush administration's nearly three-year detention of Padilla without charges or regular access to a lawyer violated the law.

A federal appeals court ruled Friday that Jose Padilla, held for more than three years after federal officials said he planned to set off radiological devices, or "dirty bombs," could be detained indefinitely without trial. The unanimous decision by a panel of the U.S.

An FBI agent who interrogated terrorism suspect Jose Padilla on the night of his May 2002 arrest in Chicago testified Wednesday that he could identify the defendant's voice on wiretapped phone calls. "There's no doubt in my mind that the voice of Jose Padilla is on these tapes," Special Agent Russell R. Fincher of the FBI's New York bureau told the jury in U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke's courtroom.

A UC Berkeley law professor who helped the Bush administration create policies to justify harsh interrogation techniques and prolonged detention may not be sued by an American citizen detained under those conditions, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said Jose Padilla, an American citizen arrested in 2002 and declared an "enemy combatant," may not hold professor John Yoo liable for "gross physical and psychological abuse" that Padilla said he suffered during more than three years of military detention.

Real Salt Lake and Chivas USA battled to a 1-1 draw in Major League Soccer action at Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday night. Ned Grabavoy and Jose Padilla scored second-half goals just four minutes apart for their respective teams. RSL's Grabavoy opened the scoring in the 67th minute after a corner kick was deflected to him just outside the Chivas USA penalty area. He then volleyed a left-footed rocket past the outstretched arms of goalkeeper Dan Kennedy and in for his second goal of the season.

The right to counsel is one of the glories of this nation's legal system, but it means little if a client can't depend on his lawyer to provide an accurate account of his legal options. This week, the U.S. Supreme Court confronted a compelling case of what can happen when a defendant relies on inaccurate legal advice. Jose Padilla, a legal U.S. resident and a Vietnam veteran, asked the justices to overturn his guilty plea to a drug charge because his lawyer had misled him about whether the plea would lead to his deportation to his native Honduras.

Over the weekend, the White House floated the idea of constructing (or renovating) a vast court-and-prison complex in either Kansas or Michigan. The facility would be used to detain and prosecute terrorism suspects now being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The leak followed published reports last week that the Justice Department is evaluating anew dozens of cases of Gitmo detainees to see if any more of the men should be prosecuted in American courtrooms under federal criminal law.

Re "Judging John Yoo," Editorial, July 2 Reading your editorial about the lawsuit filed against John Yoo reminded me of a wonderful speech given by Sen. Sam Ervin at the American Bar Assn. Convention in Honolulu, Hawaii, in the summer of 1973, following the Watergate hearings. He stated that when a lawyer is requested to give his opinion on a legal issue, two questions must be asked: Is the proposed action legal? And is it the right thing to do? Professor Yoo miserably failed both questions in his "torture memo."

In their notorious August 2002 "torture memo," Justice Department officials Jay S. Bybee and John C. Yoo defined torture narrowly as pain associated with "organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death." It was a strained and selective reading of the law, and it was rescinded in 2004 by Jack Goldsmith, Bybee's successor as head of the Office of Legal Counsel. But can Yoo, now a professor at UC Berkeley, be held responsible for the actions of others who relied on his legal reasoning?

A federal judge Tuesday rejected prosecutors' pleas that she put onetime accused "dirty-bomber" Jose Padilla in prison for life, citing the harsh treatment he received during 3 1/2 years he spent in military detention as an enemy combatant. In turning aside government arguments for the harshest sentence possible, U.S. District Judge Marcia G.

Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen whose three-year detention in a Navy brig without criminal charges has been a defining legal battle in the Bush administration's war on terrorism, has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Miami, the Justice Department said Tuesday. In an 11-count indictment, Padilla and four codefendants were accused of operating a terrorist cell in Canada and the United States in the eight years leading up to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

In their notorious August 2002 "torture memo," Justice Department officials Jay S. Bybee and John C. Yoo defined torture narrowly as pain associated with "organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death." It was a strained and selective reading of the law, and it was rescinded in 2004 by Jack Goldsmith, Bybee's successor as head of the Office of Legal Counsel. But can Yoo, now a professor at UC Berkeley, be held responsible for the actions of others who relied on his legal reasoning?

Alleged "dirty bomb" plotter Jose Padilla and two codefendants were engaged in terrorism when they conspired to fight in foreign holy wars and should spend 30 years to life in prison, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. The sentencing guidelines imposed by U.S. District Judge Marcia G. Cooke seemed to indicate that, at least in the case of 37-year-old Padilla, she would heed prosecutors' call for life without parole.

Defense lawyers argued Wednesday that Jose Padilla and two co-defendants convicted of terrorism were bit players at best in the global holy war led by Osama bin Laden, and that their sentences should reflect their low-level status. Prosecutors, who portrayed the three men as ideological allies of terrorist kingpins during a four-month trial last year, say the defendants deserve life sentences because they played "leadership roles" among a handful of operatives in a South Florida terrorist cell.