JURIST - Paper Chase: US Supreme Court rules that foreign-born terror detainees should have access to US courts

In addition to its decision in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld (see this report on JURIST's Paper Chase), the US Supreme Court handed down decisions in four other cases Monday. In Rasul v. Bush (case backgrounder from Duke Law School's Program in Public Law), the Court held that US courts have jurisdiction to hear challenges brought by foreign-born detainees to contest their captivity and treatment at Guantanamo Bay. Cornell's Legal Information Institute has posted today's opinion per Justice Stevens, along with Justice Kennedy's concurrence and Justice Scalia's dissent. AP has more.

In Rumsfeld v. Padilla (case backgrounder from Duke Law School's Program in Public Law), the Court avoided a decision on the merits, saying that Padilla's suit improperly named Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld instead of the military officer in charge of the Navy brig where Padilla has been held and therefore the case should have been brought in South Carolina, not New York. Padilla has been detained in South Carolina for about two years and is suspected of plotting with al Qaeda to set off a radioactive "dirty bomb" in the US. Cornell's Legal Information Institute has posted today's opinion per Chief Justice Rehnquist, along with Justice Kennedy's concurrence and Justice Stevens' dissent. AP has more.

In United States v. Patane (case backgrounder from Duke Law School's Program in Public Law), the Court held that a failure to give a suspect Miranda warnings does not require suppression of the physical fruit of the suspect's unwarned but voluntary statements. Cornell's Legal Information Institute has posted today's opinion per Justice Thomas, along with Justice Kennedy's concurrence, Justice Souter's dissent and Justice Breyer's dissent.

In Missouri v. Seibert (case backgrounder from Duke Law School's Program in Public Law), the Court held that statements given after Miranda warnings are administered are inadmissible when the suspect receives the Miranda warnings after interrogation and an unwarned confession. Cornell's Legal Information Institute has posted today's opinion per Justice Souter, along with Justice Breyer's concurrence, Justice Kennedy's concurrence and Justice O'Connor's dissent. AP has more.

Also Monday, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in several cases, including Ashcroft v. Raich, where the court will decide whether people who smoke marijuana under doctor's orders are subject to a federal ban on marijuana. AP has more. Read the Court's full Order List [PDF].