PalmBeachPost

Oct 3, 2001

Reno Can Be Sued Over Elian Gonzalez Raid, Judge Rules

By Terry Spencer Associated Press Writer

MIAMI (AP) - Former Attorney General Janet Reno can be sued by protesters and bystanders who say they were injured during the raid to seize Elian Gonzalez from his Miami relatives' home, a federal judge has ruled.

While dismissing the suit against two other top Clinton administration officials, U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore ruled that Reno's position as attorney general did not give her immunity from being personally sued for injuries sustained in the raid, which she ordered.

Fifty-two protesters and bystanders sued Reno, former Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder and former Immigration and Naturalization Service Commissioner Doris Meissner, claiming federal agents were following the trio's orders when they gassed, beat and threatened them during the raid on April 22, 2000.

The protesters and bystanders sued for at least $100 million, saying the officials' action violated their constitutional rights. They allege they were targeted solely because they opposed efforts to return Elian, then 6, to his father in Cuba.

In his ruling Tuesday, Moore dismissed the suit against Holder and Meissner, saying Reno ordered the raid, not them. He also ruled that five of the 52 protesters and bystanders could not sue because they left the house as soon as the agents arrived and were not injured.

But the remaining 47 protesters and bystanders can sue Reno, he ruled.

"A reasonable officer in Reno's position would know that the law forbade her from directing the execution of a warrant in a manner that called for unjustified force against bystanders," the judge ruled.

Reno, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor in Florida, did get a partial victory. In dismissing a portion of the suit alleging excessive force, Moore ruled that the raid was "neither particularly violent, nor was the number of law enforcement officers disproportionate to the objective need to maintain order."

Tom Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch, a conservative legal group representing the bystanders and protesters, said the Cuban-American community as a whole was victimized by Reno's actions when she ordered Elian's seizure.

"She knew their constitutional rights would be violated and she didn't care," Fitton said. He said the group would take steps to put Holder and Meissner back into the suit and would consider filing appeals on behalf of the five protesters and bystanders who were dismissed from the suit.

Reno did not immediately return a phone call Wednesday seeking comment.

Charles Miller, a spokesman for the U.S. Justice Department, which has been representing Reno in the lawsuit, did not have an immediate comment.

No trial date has been set.

AP-ES-10-03-01 1542EDT

This story can be found at : http://ap.tbo.com/ap/florida/MGABTQ7JDSC.html

-- Anonymous, October 03, 2001