A Canadian engineer who claims he was sent by the United States to Syria to be tortured in 2002 cannot sue U.S. officials in federal court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit said yesterday in an in banc ruling.
The 7-4 majority held that the Canadian, Maher Arar, failed to state a claim under the Torture Victim Protection Act and that his remaining claims did not satisfy the test for “implied” constitutional causes of action under the 1971 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388.
