During a U.S. Court of Appeals hearing on November 9, Maher Arar’s lawyer David Cole, from the Center for Constitutional Rights, sought to re-start a suit to recover damages for Arar’s extraordinary rendition to Syria, where he was tortured.  A lawyer for former Attorney General John Ashcroft charged that Arar had “unequivocal membership in al-Qaeda.”  That did not go over well with the court. Judge Robert Sack asked the lawyer if there was a new assessment to justify that characterization, and when he could not get a straight answer he remarked, “So we will make believe he’s a member of al-Qaeda?”  Lawyers for Ashcroft and the Justice Department also tried to derail the appeal on grounds of official immunity and of the maintenance of relations with Syria and Canada.  Jos� Cabranes, another member of the court hearing the case, wanted to know how the U.S. could be off the hook for sending a man to a place where he was tortured.  He questioned the contention of lawyers for Ashcroft and Justice that as an alien he lacked Constitutional protection against overseas torture.