SUPREMES REJECT 9/11 APPEAL

James Joyner | Monday, January 12, 2004

CNN: Supreme Court rejects appeal over secret 9/11 detentions

The Supreme Court Monday allowed the government to keep secret information about hundreds of people rounded up under suspicion of terrorism in the months following the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The justices without comment refused to accept an appeal bought by the Center for National Security Studies, a Washington, D.C., think tank representing Arab-American groups and some civil rights activists.

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At issue in Monday’s ruling was the government’s refusal to release information on about 700 mostly Muslim- or Arab-Americans detained by federal authorities. Various media outlets including CNN filed a brief supporting public access to the information.

The center, the Center for National Security Studies, sued to learn names and other basic information about the detainees. The appeal raised constitutional questions under the First Amendment right to freedom of speech and freedom of the press, and legal questions under the federal Freedom of Information Act.

Most of the suspects were held by immigration authorities, and were investigated and questioned for possible terrorism connections. Nearly all were subsequently released, and some were eventually deported for various immigration violations.

About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia.

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