Full case name Dennis Hasty, et al., Petitioners v. Ahmer Iqbal Abbasi, et al. Docket nos. 15-1359
15-1358
15-1363 Prior history dismissing federal defendants, 915 F. Supp. 2d 314 (E.D.N.Y. 2013), reversing, 789 F.3d 218 (2d Cir. 2015), denial of rehearing en banc, 808 F.3d 197 (2d Cir. 2015). Similar Bivens v Six Unknown, Ashcroft v Iqbal, Rasul v Bush | ||
Hasty v. Abbasi No. 15-1363, ___ U.S. ___ is a pending Supreme Court of the United States case in which the Court must determine if unlawfully present aliens arrested in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks can sue for money high level federal officials for the conditions of their confinement. The case is consolidated with Ziglar v. Abbasi, and Ashcroft v. Abbasi. It was argued on January 18, 2017, but no opinion has been issued or entered thus far.
Contents
The class action civil lawsuit was filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) against the then-Attorney General John Ashcroft, FBI Director Robert Mueller, former INS Commissioner James Ziglar, and employees of the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, New York, on the behalf of a number of Muslim, South Asian, and Arab non-citizens who, under the pretext of immigration violations, were held in detention for several months.
Background
During the immediate U.S. government response to the September 11 attacks, federal officials sought out and detained illegally present aliens, arresting 762 in all, 60% in the New York area. Aliens “of high interest” to national security would not be deported but were instead “held until cleared” by the Federal Bureau of Investigations. 84 of these aliens were held by the MCD.
On April 17, 2002, plaintiffs sued in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, alleging that the United States Department of Justice and MCD’s behavior violated both the Equal Protection Clause and the substantive due process clause, and that they had a right to sue under an implied cause of action created by Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents (1971).
The lawsuit charges that the Immigration and Naturalization Service unlawfully held the plaintiffs several months after the completion of immigration cases brought against them to allow the FBI to investigate potential links to terrorism, an alleged violation of their First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendment rights. The suit additionally alleges that the conditions of detainment of these prisoners, as well as the length of detainment, violated their rights, as prisoners were held in the Administrative Maximum Special Housing Unit (ADMAX SHU); deprived contact with their attorneys, families, and friends; prevented from the practice of their religions; and treated inhumanely in various ways, including being verbally and physically abused. David D. Cole, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center, is one of the attorneys on the case.
On June 14, 2006, U.S. District Judge John Gleeson refused to dismiss the plaintiffs’ substantive due process and equal protection claims. In February 2008, the case was reviewed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, including then-Circuit Judge Sonia Sotomayor. On December 18, 2009, a two judge panel of the Second Circuit affirmed in an unsigned per curiam decision, with Sotomayor not participating due to her elevation to the Supreme Court of the United States. The Second Circuit remanded to Judge Gleeson for further consideration under the new pleading standards created by Ashcroft v. Iqbal (2009), a separate case regarding conditions at the MDC.
On November 3, 2009 The Center for Constitutional Rights announced that the six Metropolitan Detention Center plaintiffs had settled their claims against the United States for 1.26 million dollars.
Plaintiffs eventually filed four amended complaints, incorporating by reference April and December, 2003 United States Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General reports investigating the abuses at MCD. On January 15, 2013, Judge Gleeson dismissed all claims against the federal DOJ defendants but denied the MCD defendants’ motions to dismiss the constitutional conditions of confinement claims, the unreasonable strip search claim, and the conspiracy claim.
On June 17, 2015, the Second Circuit ruled that the case could proceed. Second Circuit Judges Rosemary S. Pooler and Richard Wesley affirmed Judge Gleeson with regard to the MCD defendants but reversed with regard to his dismissal of the claims against the DOJ defendants, over dissenting Judge Reena Raggi's argument that the DOJ defendants were entitled to qualified immunity. On December 11, 2015, a judge’s request for rehearing en banc was denied by an equally divided circuit, with Judges Raggi, Dennis Jacobs, José A. Cabranes, Peter W. Hall, Debra Ann Livingston and Christopher F. Droney dissenting.
Supreme Court
On February 29 and April 1, 2016, Circuit Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg granted the Solicitor General of the United States’s applications to extend the deadline to file a petition for a writ of certiorari. On October 11, 2016, the Supreme Court agreed to review the case, with Justices Sotomayor and Elena Kagan recusing themselves. Commentators are not optimistic for the plaintiffs, noting that the Supreme Court has granted all eight of the government's last requests to review counterterrorism cases it had lost below, and that the plaintiffs have never then won. On January 18, 2017, the Supreme Court heard arguments of both parties but no opinion has been issued or entered thus far.