A petition to the United State Supreme Court begins with the "Questions Presented" — the legal issues that the litigants are asking the high court to resolve. The petition in Estela Lebron and Jose Padilla v. Donald Rumsfeld et al — which the Supreme Court will receive today — poses a single question: "Whether federal officials responsible for the torture of an American citizen on American soil may be sued for damages under the Constitution.
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In February, a federal district court in South Carolina dismissed our lawsuit on behalf of American citizen Jose Padilla against Donald Rumsfeld and other current and former officials, saying the former Secretary of Defense was enti... Read Post
In the case of Jose Padilla, nothing moves swiftly. He was arrested in March 2002, held without charge for two years in a South Carolina military brig without access to a lawyer, and was tortured to the point that brig authorities d... Read Post
After a fruitless five-year battle in U.S. federal courts to hold accountable those who unlawfully detained and tortured her son José Padilla, Estela Lebron today sought to have their claims heard by the Inter-American Commission on... Read Post