The Unjust Detention of Jose Padilla

Jose Padilla, an American citizen arrested in Chicago in May 2002, has been held more than three years in a Navy brig without charge. The truth of the allegations against him - that he planned to commit acts of terrorism -- has never been tested in court.

Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld Padilla's detention, reversing a lower court decision that had said that Padilla should be either charged or released. Relying on the Supreme Court's 2004 ruling in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld -- a case involving Yaser Hamdi, an American citizen captured on the battlefield in Afghanistan -- the Fourth Circuit found that Congress had authorized Padilla's detention by passing a joint resolution on the use of military force in Afghanistan.