John Ashcroft Lawsuit Thrown Out By Supreme Court:
"The lawsuit against Ashcroft, attorney general from 2001 to 2005, stemmed from comments he made shortly after 9/11 that the government would preventively detain people suspected of terrorist ties, even if it had no evidence they committed a crime.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, in allowing the lawsuit against Ashcroft to go forward, said using the material witness statute as a pretext to detain someone was a violation of the Fourth Amendment. The appeals court also said Ashcroft should have known that such detentions would violate the law.

But the high court has said that an official must be tied directly to a violation of constitutional rights and must have clearly understood the action crossed that line to be held liable. No attorney general has ever been held personally liable for official actions."

Unbelievable that a unanimous decision absolves our top law enforcement officer from any culpability in violating an American citizen's constitutional rights simply because he claims incompetence? Since when is ignorance of the law an excuse? I mean, what else is left for there to be violated? Is there anything left at all of the bill of rights?