SPARTANBURG, S.C., Feb. 28 (UPI) -- A federal judge in South Carolina Monday ruled President George Bush does not have the power to hold terror suspect Jose Padilla as an "enemy combatant."
The judge ordered Padilla released from military custody within 45 days.
The Brooklyn-born Padilla was arrested in May 2002 by the FBI after he flew from Pakistan to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. The Justice Department accused him of plotting with al-Qaida leaders to select a U.S. city for the detonation of a "dirty bomb," a conventional explosive device wrapped in radioactive material.
Padilla's case reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled the proper jurisdiction belonged in South Carolina, not New York, where it was filed.
Monday's ruling was handed down by U.S. District Judge Henry Floyd, who was appointed by President Bush in 2003.
Floyd said, "Simply stated, this is a law enforcement matter, not a military matter."
The judge suggested the Padilla case should be handled by the courts.
