4th Circuit To Padilla: Stay Put!

In a unanimous opinion by mentioned-for-the-Supremes Judge Luttig, the Fourth Circuit reversed District Judge Floyd's restrictive decision that would have freed suspected dirty bomber Jose Padilla. Instead, the Circuit Court found that the Executive Branch has the authority:

to detain militarily a citizen of this country who is closely associated with al Qaeda, an entity with which the United States is at war; who took up arms on behalf of that enemy and against our country in a foreign combat zone of that war; and who thereafter traveled to the United States for the avowed purpose of further prosecuting that war on American soil, against American citizens and targets.

Interestingly, Judge Luttig's opinion -- like the Supreme Court ruling in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld -- relies on the Joint Resolution To Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces Against Those Responsible For the Recent Attacks Launched Against the United States enacted by Congress, not the President's Article II powers.

(via Instapundit)