Join CCR and pack the court on Thursday, May 1, 2014 for oral arguments in Turkmen v. Ashcroft, CCR’s class action civil rights lawsuit filed on behalf of Muslim, South Asian, and Arab non-citizens who were swept up by the FBI and INS as suspected terrorists after 9/11. CCR senior staff attorney Rachel Meeropol will ask the Court to allow the detainees to hold former Bush administration officials, including John Ashcroft, accountable for their role in ordering religious profiling and abuse.  

What: Oral arguments in Turkmen v. Ashcroft
When: Thursday, May 1, 2014 at 10 a.m. (arrive 30 minutes before for security and seating)
Where: Second Circuit Court of Appeals, 17th Floor, Room 1703

After 9/11, hundreds of non-citizens were detained for months in super maximum security conditions because of their religion, race and ethnicity.  During this time, they were abused and treated as terrorists without any evidence to connect them to terrorism. Turkmen was first brought against former Attorney General John Ashcroft, former FBI Director Robert Mueller, former INS Commissioner James Ziglar and employees of the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York in 2002. While the five original plaintiffs settled their claims with the U.S. for $1.26 million, new plaintiffs have stepped forward, and over decade later, are still seeking justice.  In 2013, Judge Gleeson dismissed plaintiffs’ claims against the high-level officials, but allowed claims against the MDC officials to proceed.  Both aspects of his decision are up for review by the Second Circuit.