In a stinging rejection of one of the Bush administration\ufffds central assertions about the scope of executive authority to combat terrorism, a federal appeals court ordered the Pentagon to release a man being held as an enemy combatant.

\ufffdTo sanction such presidential authority to order the military to seize and indefinitely detain civilians, Judge Diana Gribbon Motz wrote, \ufffdeven if the President calls them \ufffdenemy combatants,\ufffd would have disastrous consequences for the Constitution \ufffd and the country.\ufffd

\ufffdWe refuse to recognize a claim to power,\ufffd Judge Motz added, \ufffdthat would so alter the constitutional foundations of our Republic.\ufffd

The ruling was handed down by a divided three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, in Richmond, Va., in the case of Ali al-Marri, a citizen of Qatar and the only person on the American mainland known to be held as an enemy combatant.

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