A federal appeals court yesterday denied a rehearing for a U.S. citizen captured with Taliban soldiers in Afghanistan, letting stand a ruling that the man can be jailed indefinitely without an attorney. The decision by the Richmond-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit came in the case of Yaser Esam Hamdi, a Louisiana-born man designated an “enemy combatant” by the military. In January, a three-judge panel of the 4th Circuit gave the government an important victory in the war on terrorism by ruling that the Constitution gives the executive branch the responsibility to wage war and the courts must yield to the military in making such determinations. Hamdi’s attorney and a coalition of more than 100 law professors and legal organizations asked for a rehearing. By an 8 to 4 vote, the full slate of active judges let the decision stand. Two judges on each side of the rehearing issue wrote strong opinions evoking centuries-old constitutional issues. Full Story
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