Supreme Court Turns Down Patriot Act Challenge by Wrongly Accused Lawyer
The U.S. Supreme Court has refused a challenge to the Patriot Act by a lawyer who was wrongly accused in an international terrorism case.
The court denied cert in the appeal by Oregon lawyer Brandon Mayfield, the Associated Press reports. The action lets stand a decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that rejected Mayfield’s suit on standing grounds.
Mayfield was incorrectly identified as a suspect in a Madrid train bombing based on a faulty fingerprint. He claimed in a lawsuit that portions of the Patriot Act are unconstitutional because the statute permits surveillance and searches without probable cause.
The 9th Circuit said the case should be dismissed because of a prior settlement. Mayfield had accepted $2 million from the government for the mistaken arrest and was barred by the settlement from seeking new injunctive relief.
