Moussaoui Cert. Denied

The U.S. Supreme Court denied the writ of certiorari filed January 10, 2005 by Moussaoui’s federal attorney, Frank W. Dunham Jr.. The denial by the Supreme Court means that the ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit stands. The appellate court ruled that the government could seek the death penalty and that, due to national security concerns, the defense could not directly question witnesses currently in U.S. custody at the security prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

It would have been rare for the U.S. Supreme Court, as the final appeals court, to rule on the Moussaoui case prior to a final ruling in the federal courts. However, an amici curiae brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court by The Rutherford Institute and the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at Yale Law School argued that “Few issues could be more urgent than whether a defendant in a capital case may be denied access to potentially exculpatory witnesses because the Government claims that damage to national security might otherwise result” [p.24].

The case of Zacarias Moussaoui will proceed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria, Virginia.

1. Moussaoui v. United States, cert. denied, USSupCt, No. 04-8385
2. United States v. Moussaoui, 382 F.3d 453, 488 (4th Cir. 2004)
3. United States v. Moussaoui, 333 F3d 509, 514 (4th Cir. 2003)
4. United States v. Moussaoui, 282 F. Supp. 2d 480, 484 (E.D. Va. 2003)

Additional Resources

• U.S. Constitution, Fifth Amendment – right of due process
• U.S. Constitution, Sixth Amendment – right of a defendant to call witnesses
• U.S. Constitution, Eighth Amendment – prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment
• U.S. Supreme Court
• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 14 – right of a defendant to call witnesses
• Center for Constitutional Rights
• International Journal of Constitutional Law