Court hears argument over post-9/11 arrest

AP via SFGate ^ | 3/2/11

[SmithL]

The Supreme Court will soon decide whether an American Muslim can sue former attorney general John Ashcroft for a post-Sept 11 arrest using a law intended to make sure witnesses testify in criminal proceedings.

[SmithL]

Damian Dovarganes / AP

In this photo taken Feb. 14, 2011, plaintiff Abdullah al-Kidd, right, and his attorney, American Civil Liberties Union Deputy Director of the Immigrants' Rights Project, Lee Gelernt, talk about a Supreme Court lawsuit against former Attorney General John Ashcroft, during an interview with the Associated Press in Los Angeles. Abdullah al-Kidd, 37, a former University of Idaho football player, was arrested in 2003 on a material witness warrant. Ashcroft was serving then as attorney general under President George W. Bush and helped write the Patriot Act.