The Supreme Court says it will decide whether former Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller (Mul'-er) must face a lawsuit that claims prisoners detained after Sept. 11 were subject to ethnic and religious discrimination.
The lawsuit was filed by Javaid Iqbal, a Pakistani Muslim who spent nearly six months in solitary confinement in 2002. Iqbal, since deported from the United States, says Ashcroft, Mueller and others implemented a policy of confining detainees in highly restrictive conditions because of their religious beliefs and race.
A federal appeals said the lawsuit could proceed, but the Bush administration says the high-ranking officials should not have to answer for the allegedly discriminatory acts of subordinates.
