This latest decision by the Supreme Court does not surprise me. In Dec. o8, when this case was passed on to the Supreme Court by the appeals court panel, I wondered how Iqbal’s lawyers would prove Mueller and Ashcroft personally ordered his treatment. Moreover, that they ordered his treatment because of his religious beliefs.

A sharply divided Supreme Court ruled Monday that FBI Director Robert Mueller and former Attorney General John Ashcroft can’t face a lawsuit from a former Sept. 11 detainee who argued they were responsible for his restrictive confinement because of his religious beliefs.

The court on Monday overturned a lower court decision that let Javaid Iqbal’s (Ick-ball) lawsuit against the high-ranking officials proceed.

Iqbal is a Pakistani Muslim who spent nearly six months in solitary confinement in New York in 2002. He had argued that while Ashcroft and Mueller did not single him out for mistreatment, they were responsible for a policy of confining detainees in highly restrictive conditions because of their religious beliefs or race.

It appears that most of the allegations against Ashcroft and Mueller in the suit were generalized with no direct evidence (proof) of their involvement. I can only guess who was responsible for the creative detainee confinement policy, especially those darn unnecessary strip searches (hint: say “his middle name is Bruce” with a lisp).

See Ashcroft, Former Att’y Gen. v. Iqbal (07-1015) for specifics regarding the suit.