Eric Muller discusses Supreme Court ruling on profiling and detentions immediately following 9/11

From the Washington Post:

The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that former attorney general John D. Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III may not be sued by a Pakistani man who was seized in the United States after the 2001 terrorist attacks and who alleged harsh treatment because of his religion and ethnicity.

The court ruled 5 to 4 that the top officials were not liable for the allegedly discriminatory actions of their subordinates unless they had ordered the measures.

The Post called on Eric Muller, professor of law at UNC and author of American Inquisition: The Hunt for Japanese American Disloyalty in World War II, to answer readers’ questions about the meaning of the ruling.

Muller chatted live yesterday afternoon, fielding questions about legal accountability, historical precedent, racial profiling, and the dissenting opinion (written by Justice Souter). You can read a transcript of the live Q&A session.

–ellen