US Court Upholds Enemy Combatant's Detention
"We conclude that the president does possess such authority," said Luttig, a conservative who has been under consideration by the Bush administration for a possible Supreme Court nomination.
Padilla, a former Chicago gang member and convert to Islam, initially was suspected by U.S. officials of plotting with al Qaeda to set off a radioactive "dirty bomb" in the United States.
On May 8, 2002, Padilla was arrested at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport after returning from Pakistan. Bush then declared him an enemy combatant, and Padilla has been held in solitary confinement at a Navy brig in South Carolina.
The appeals court reversed a decision by a federal judge in South Carolina who ruled in February that Bush has no authority to have Padilla held as an enemy combatant. The judge said Padilla must be released if he is not charged with a crime.
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