Judge allows lawyers to visit 'enemy combatant'
A setback for the Bush administration
From Phil Hirschkorn
March 11, 2003
NEW YORK (CNN) -- A federal judge Tuesday ordered the government to allow lawyers to meet with alleged "enemy combatant" Jose Padilla, an American citizen accused of being an al Qaeda operative who plotted to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" inside the United States.
The decision is a legal setback for the Bush administration, which sought to block Padilla from meeting his defense lawyers under any circumstances, saying national security is more important than a detainee's right to counsel.
U.S. District Judge Michael Mukasey rejected the government's argument in a 35-page decision, ordering the government to permit Padilla's New York-based attorneys to visit the prisoner, who has been held incommunicado in a South Carolina Navy brig since June.
"Absent agreement, the court will impose conditions," Mukasey wrote. "Lest any confusion remain, this is not a suggestion or a request that Padilla be permitted to consult with counsel, and it is certainly not an invitation to conduct further 'dialogue' about whether he is permitted to do so."
Mukasey scheduled a March 27 court session to settle logistical details for the meetings.
He said Padilla "must have the opportunity to present evidence that undermines" the government's accusations stated publicly by Attorney General John Ashcroft, though no formal charges have ever been filed. "The only practicable way to present evidence, if he has any and chooses to do so, is through counsel," the judge said.
Mukasey is the same judge who ruled last December that the president's use of the "enemy combatant" classification is lawful. He also ruled that defense attorneys should be permitted to visit with Padilla, but Deputy Solicitor General Paul Clement and U.S Attorney James Comey asked Mukasey to reconsider that.
"The government's arguments here are permeated with the pinched legalism one usually encounters from non-lawyers," wrote Mukasey, who had signaled his impatience with the government's views at a January hearing.
A Defense Department memorandum opposing attorney-client visits stated that any access to attorneys might compromise Padilla's ongoing interrogation by the military, but Mukasey found holes in the argument. Top