US SUPREME COURT DENIES CERT IN PADILLA APPEAL

Today, April 3, the Supreme Court of the United States declines to review the Fourth Circuit’s recent ruling in Padilla v. Hanft, involving a challenge by a United States citizen to his detention by the government on suspicion of complicity in terrorist attacks against the nation.  The Fourth Circuit had issued two opinions in the case, the original in September, deciding the case, and a later one in December, rejecting the government’s motion to withdraw the September opinion.

Three justices (Breyer, Ginsburg, and Souter) voted to grant certiorari; it takes four votes to trigger the high Court’s review.  The court releases two opinions addressing the merits of the petition; one authored by Justice Kennedy, explaining the majority’s basis for denying certiorari, and another by Justice Ginsberg, carrying the flag for granting review.