WASHINGTON - November 1, 2010 - An Oregon lawyer wrongly suspected in the 2004 Madrid train bombings lost his bid to have the Supreme Court take up his constitutional challenge to provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act.
The justices on Monday rejected Brandon Mayfield's appeal of a Ninth Circuit ruling dismissing his claim that parts of the USA PATRIOT Act violate his Fourth Amendment rights.
Federal agents took Mayfield into custody after mistakenly concluding that his fingerprints matched a print from the 2004 Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people and injured 1,600.
The Portland attorney won a $2 million settlement and an apology from the federal government in exchange for agreeing to abandon all claims against the government except one: a challenge to provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
The Ninth Circuit last December declined to deem the USA PATRIOT Act provisions unconstitutional.
"We agree that Mayfield suffers an actual, ongoing injury, but do not agree that a declaratory judgment would likely redress that injury," Circuit Judge Richard Paez wrote for the three-judge panel.
Without comment, the high court on Monday rejected Mayfield's appeal.
