Just in: “A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals today rejected a Pasco [WA] National Guardsman’s lawsuit to stop the military from extending his service.”
Update [2005-4-7 9:48:34 by susanhbu]: Today’s Seattle PI: It’s a “victory for the Bush administration.”
From The Seattle Times, “Court rejects National Guardsman’s lawsuit,” Wednesday, April 6, 2005 – Page updated at 05:38 p.m
Santiago, 27, who works as an electrical technician at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, is to be sent to Afghanistan on Friday.
The case was the highest court review of the military’s controversial “stop-loss” policy by which deployments are involuntarily extended.
It is unclear whether Santiago will continue to appeal his case while serving overseas.
Background story: Stopping ‘Stop-Loss’, Seattle Weekly (“The federal 9th Circuit Court is coming to Seattle to hear the case of a National Guard soldier forced to stay on.”)