Supreme Court Dumps Suit Vs. Mueller, Ashcroft

The Supreme Court says a lawsuit against FBI Director Robert Mueller and former Attorney General John Ashcroft by a former Sept. 11 detainee cannot go forward. The court today overturned a lower court decision that let Javaid Iqbal's lawsuit against the high-ranking officials proceed. Iqbal is a Pakistani Muslim who spent nearly 6 months in solitary confinement in New York in 2002.

He had argued that while Ashcroft and Mueller did not single him out for mistreatment, they were responsible for a policy of confining detainees in highly restrictive conditions because of their religious beliefs or race. But the government argued that there was nothing linking Mueller and Ashcroft to the abuses that happened to Iqbal. (More US Supreme Court stories.)