9th Circuit Blasts Feds for Post-9/11 Detention of 'Material Witness'
The Recorder

A 9th Circuit panel on Friday denounced the federal government's post-9/11 practice of detaining innocent Americans under the federal material witness statute as "repugnant" and "a painful reminder of some of the most ignominious chapters of our national history." In allowing Abdullah al-Kidd's lawsuit against former Attorney General John Ashcroft to proceed, the panel held that al-Kidd's Fourth Amendment rights were violated when he was arrested and imprisoned without charges.