Canadian citizen Maher Arar on Feb. 1 asked the US Supreme Court to overturn a lower court ruling that he cannot sue the US government for damages based on his detention in the US and his detention, interrogation, and torture in Syria after he was mistakenly "renditioned" as a terrorist. Arar is attempting to challenge the US government's policy of "extraordinary rendition" under the Torture Victim Protection Act and the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution.

Lawyers from the Center for Constitutional Rights who are representing Arar said "the Supreme Court should hear the case because the Court of Appeals' decision not only contradicts Supreme Court decisions but also raises issues of national importance by effectively immunizing federal officials who conspired to subject Arar to torture, and to block his access to a court that would almost certainly have barred the federal officials from carrying out their illegal plan."

The US government will have the opportunity to file an opposition brief before the Supreme Court decides whether to hear the appeal. (Jurist, Feb. 2)

See our last post on the torture scandal.