9th Circuit Court overturns "Millennium Bomber" sentence.

A three-judge panel of the federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, on January 16, threw out the 22-year sentence of convicted "Millennium Bomber" Ahmed Ressam Ressam, an Algerian who trained with al-Qaeda, was caught in December 1999 by U.S. Customs agents as he came across the border from Canada at Port Angeles, Washington. He had 120 pounds of explosives in his trunk, to be used in bombing the Los Angeles International Airport. He was convicted on nine charges of terrorism, conspiracy, and possession of explosives. Prosecutors asked for a sentence of 35 years, but federal Judge John Coughenour gave Ressam 22 years.

Two of the three appellate judges said Ressam was improperly convicted of carrying an explosive while committing a felony: lying on a customs form. Having thus reversed one of the nine charges, they have sent the case back to the lower court for new sentencing. The San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Court has become widely known as the "9th Circus Court" because of its activist judges. Rulings of the 9th Circuit are more frequently overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court than are the decisions of any other court.