Supreme Court justices gripped by case of 9/11 detainee: 'We want a clear answer'
ABC News
A Supreme Court case about took an abrupt turn Wednesday when justices demanded answers about why al-Qaeda suspect Abu Zubaydah is still being held without charges.
A U.S. Supreme Court case about state secrets and brutal CIA black-site interrogations after 9/11 took an abrupt turn Wednesday when a trio of justices demanded answers from the Biden administration about why the plaintiff -- Al-Qaeda suspect Abu Zubaydah -- is still held without charges in a military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, even though the war in Afghanistan has concluded.
"I don't understand why he's still there after 14 years," said a clearly exasperated Justice Stephen Breyer.
The controversial wartime detention of alleged terrorist combatants was not the immediate focus of the case but was raised after more than an hour of oral arguments by Breyer and Justices Neil Gorsuch and Sonia Sotomayor.
The justices had all been wrestling with how to balance the government's need to keep secret the foreign location of Zubaydah's interrogation -- in an effort to protect national security interests -- and the detainee's need to obtain testimony from two former CIA contractors about what happened when he was in their custody.
