Supreme Court Throws Out Suit Against Ashcroft

The Supreme Court has ruled that former Attorney General John Ashcroft cannot be sued over his role in the post-Sept. 11 arrest of an American Muslim who was never charged with a crime.

By a 5-3 vote Tuesday, the court said Ashcroft did not violate the constitutional rights of Abdullah al-Kidd, who was arrested in 2003 under a federal law intended to make sure witnesses testify in criminal proceedings.

But even the justices who disagreed about the constitutional issue agreed that Ashcroft could not be personally sued for his role in al-Kidd's arrest. The court reversed a federal appeals court ruling that denied Ashcroft immunity from liability in this case.

Also Tuesday, the court said it will decide whether a witness identification of a man suspected in a break-in of a car should be thrown out.

The high court agreed to hear an appeal from Barion Perry, who is in prison for breaking into a car in 2008.

A woman said she saw Perry take things from the car, but made the identification only after police had him in handcuffs. She later could not pick him out of a photo lineup, and could not describe the suspect.

Perry wanted her identification thrown out because it was "unnecessarily suggestive" that he was a criminal because he was in handcuffs. The New Hampshire Supreme Court disagreed, and upheld his conviction.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/05/31/136817457/supreme-court-throws-out-suit-against-ashcroft?ft=1&f=1003

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