An evenly divided appeals court has let stand a ruling that former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and other officials can be sued for the punitive conditions in a Brooklyn jail imposed on Muslims and Arabs arrested in a preventive sweep following the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
By a vote of 6-6, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit left undisturbed a June decision saying Ashcroft, former FRBI Director Robert Mueller and former Immigration and Naturalization Service Commissioner James Ziglar can be taken to trial for harsh conditions experienced by immigrants with connections to terrorism at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
