Justice files appeals in 'dirty bomb' case
Supreme Court asked to intervene quickly
From Bill Mears and Terry Frieden
CNN Washington Bureau
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Jose Padilla has been held without counsel and without being charged since his arrest in May 2002.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to intervene quickly Friday in the case of whether an American citizen accused of being a terrorist can be held indefinitely and in secret by the government.
A federal court had ordered Jose Padilla released from military custody this month.
"The government will suffer irreparable harm" if Padilla is released, Solicitor General Ted Olson wrote in his appeal to the Supreme Court.
Olson filed two appeals in the case of Padilla, a Brooklyn-born man accused of plotting to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" in the United States. He was arrested at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport in May 2002 after a flight from Pakistan.
No charges have been filed against him, and access to lawyers and his family has been denied.
Justice Department officials said Friday that the effect of their appeals is that Padilla will remain behind bars at a Navy brig in Charleston, South Carolina, for at least another month.
In one appeal, the government requested the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals to delay its December order for Padilla's release.
The other appeal went to the Supreme Court, seeking a full review of the case. That could happen in April, with a decision on Padilla's fate by late June.
"The president -- acting as commander in chief in a time of war -- has determined [Padilla] poses a grave danger to the national security of the United States and should be detained as an enemy combatant," Olson told the high court.
A three-judge panel from the 2nd Circuit concluded that Padilla could not be held indefinitely and in secret without access to an attorney.
He was accused of meeting with al Qaeda's former operations chief, Abu Zubaydah, and discussing stealing radioactive material and setting off a crude explosive device. His lawyers say the government was wrong to label him an "enemy combatant" and that there is no evidence that Padilla planned to carry out the alleged plot. They also say Padilla deserves to have any charges against him heard in a civilian court.
There is an urgency to the proceedings. In April, the Supreme Court will hear the case of Yasser Hamdi, also a U.S. citizen accused of terrorism. The administration wants the justices to review the Padilla case at the same time.
If not, the government would have to wait until the fall, at the earliest.
Olson said "expedited consideration" is especially important "in the current conflict, waged against an enemy that operates in secret and plots surreptitious and large-scale attacks on civilian targets."
Hamdi was born in Louisiana but grew up in Saudi Arabia. He was arrested on the battlefield in Afghanistan in November 2001 and has been in military custody since then. No charges have been filed against him and he has yet to see a lawyer, though the government has given permission for him to seek counsel.
The government had won its arguments in lower courts, but Hamdi's lawyer, Frank Dunham, appealed successfully to the Supreme Court.
