The Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stunning decision in the case of so-called "Dirty Bomb Suspect" Jose Padilla, who, although an American citizen, has been held by the Bush Administration (Department of Defense) for two years without charges and without access to counsel. The Court ordered Padilla to be released within 30 days:

President Bush does not have power to detain American citizen Jose Padilla, the former gang member seized on U.S. soil, as an enemy combatant, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday. The decision, which ordered that Padilla be released from military custody within 30 days, could force the government to try the "dirty bomb" plot suspect in civilian courts. The White House said the government would seek a stay.

In a 2-1 ruling, a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Padilla's detention was not authorized by Congress and that Bush could not designate him as an enemy combatant without the authorization.

The former Chicago gang member who converted to Islam was arrested in May 2002 Chicago's O'Hare airport as he returned from Pakistan. Within days, he was moved to a naval brig in Charleston, S.C.

The Court said that Padilla could be moved to a civilian court if criminal charges are brought against him--and that he could be held as a material witness in a grand jury proceeding. But not as an enemy combatent:

As this court sits only a short distance from where the World Trade Center stood, we are as keenly aware as anyone of the threat al-Qaida poses to our country and of the responsibilities the president and law enforcement officials bear for protecting the nation," the court said.

"But presidential authority does not exist in a vacuum, and this case involves not whether those responsibilities should be aggressively pursued, but whether the president is obligated, in the circumstances presented here, to share them with Congress," it added.

We share the reaction of these civil libertaries experts: