Lawyer Visits 'Dirty Bomb' Suspect

Jose Padilla, the American citizen accused of plotting to blow up a radioactive "dirty bomb," met yesterday with his attorney for the first time since President Bush declared him an enemy combatant in 2002.

Padilla was arrested in May 2002 at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport after arriving on a flight from Pakistan, where he is accused of plotting with al Qaeda leaders. He met briefly with the lawyer, Donna Newman, after his arrest. But, soon after, the government designated Padilla an enemy combatant and ordered him held indefinitely -- without charges or access to a lawyer -- at the naval brig in Charleston, S.C.

The Supreme Court last month agreed to review the constitutionality of Bush's decision to indefinitely hold Padilla and another U.S.-born man. Padilla's case is scheduled for a hearing in late April, with a decision expected by July.

Shortly after the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, the Pentagon reversed course and allowed Padilla to meet face to face with Newman. But the Pentagon emphasized that Newman's meeting with Padilla was discretionary and would be "subject to appropriate security restrictions."

Newman saw those restrictions first hand at the naval brig yesterday. She and Padilla talked through a glass security window, while two government officials listened to the conversation and videotaped the meeting. A former street-gang member, Padilla is a Muslim convert who has traveled in the Middle East, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"He was in very good spirits to finally see someone, but this was not an attorney-client meeting," said Newman, a constitutional lawyer with offices in New York and New Jersey. "This was invitation-only, and we were not allowed to ask about the conditions of his confinement."

She added that nothing about this case is ordinary. "I would like to be able to send him documents that are not reviewed by my adversary," she said in a telephone interview.

Padilla's case before the Supreme Court has been combined with a companion case, in which Bush designated as an "enemy combatant" a U.S.-born Saudi national who was captured in Afghanistan while fighting with the Taliban. The court will also hear an appeal by more than a dozen detainees at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who are claiming the right to seek legal recourse in U.S. courts.

In December, a federal court ruled that Bush lacked the power to hold Padilla, but an appeals court delayed the implementation of that decision while the Justice Department appealed to the Supreme Court.

Newman said yesterday that she hopes to meet with her client again. "I gave him some newspaper articles about his case, and he was most appreciative," she said. "Now I'll await another government invitation to meet with my client again."