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High court to decide on national security v. public access

From Bill Mears
CNN's Washington Bureau


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• Solicitor General's brief: North Jersey Media Group v. Ashcroft  external link
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The nation's highest court may take part in the legal tug-of-war between public access and concerns about national security and government secrecy arising from the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.

The Supreme Court will decide whether to accept a case involving the Bush administration's controversial policy to hold closed deportation hearings involving hundreds of immigrants, many of them of Muslim or Arab descent detained shortly after the terror attacks two years ago.

The justices are expected to announce their decision Tuesday. If they agree to take the case, arguments could be held this fall.

At issue is the Creppy memorandum, a special ruling issued shortly after the 9/11 attacks by federal immigration Judge Michael Creppy. It ordered closed all hearings involving those the U.S. Attorney General had designated "of interest" in the ongoing investigation of terrorism in the U.S.

A Philadelphia federal appeals court rejected an appeal from a consortium of media organizations seeking to attend hearings involving so-called "special interest aliens." The media groups argued that there is a First Amendment right of public access to criminal proceedings.

But in a related case out of Michigan, a separate federal appeals court had earlier ruled just the opposite, saying "the government has not identified one persuasive reason why openness would play a negative role" in deportation hearings. That case involved a single detainee, Rabih Haddad. His case has not yet reached the Supreme Court.

The Justice Department released figures showing 766 detainees were designated of "special interest," since September 11, 2001. The figures also showed that 611 closed hearings were held and 505 people eventually were deported. Only four "special interest" detainees remain in U.S. custody, and only one could face deportation proceedings, said the government.

The federal government has asked the Supreme Court not to review this issue, saying most of the cases have been settled, and that the detention policy is still evolving.

U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson, in a brief filed with the Supreme Court, also said national security concerns justify closed hearings. "Information about what evidence the government has against members of a particular terrorist cell (and what evidence the government lacks) would assist terrorists in determining which cells to use for attack," said Olson.

Lawyers for many of those imprisoned have criticized the detention, saying their clients have been denied timely access to family and attorneys. They also complained many were harassed and threatened during interrogations to learn possible links to terrorism.

Civil rights groups accuse the Bush administration of racial profiling, using the war on terror to unfairly single out Muslims for detention and deportation.

The case is North Jersey Media Group v. Ashcroft, case no. (02-1289).


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