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Feds Ask Court to Protect Reno From Elian Lawsuit NewsMax.com WiresMIAMI – The government asked a federal appeals panel Tuesday to overturn a ruling by a judge that allowed about 50 Cuban-Americans to sue former Clinton Attorney General Janet Reno for ordering a raid on the home of Cuban refugee Elian Gonzalez. The Justice Department contends she can't be sued because she was representing the government. A three-judge panel of the 13th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals took the matter under advisement. It said it would issue a ruling in about two months. Some of the plaintiffs say they were injured in the raid and blame Reno for authorizing them. "Janet Reno knew what she was doing," said Larry Klayman, the head of the watchdog organization Judicial Watch, who is representing the Cuban-Americans. "She knew she was violating the constitutional rights of our clients, the citizens of Little Havana," he said after presenting oral arguments. Bush Administration Backs Reno The government argued there were no grounds for the suit against her. "We contend there was no excessive force, and in any event she can't be held responsible for what the officers did," said Gregory Katsas, the deputy attorney general who represented the government. Reno is running for the Democrat nomination for governor against GOP incumbent Gov. Jeb Bush. Her supporters say the suit might be political. She did not appear in court. Heavily armed Immigration and Naturalization Service agents raided the home of Lazaro Gonzalez, Elian's great uncle, April 22, 2000, and took the 6-year-old boy away. He was flown to Washington and reunited with his father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez. Elian had been rescued from waters off south Florida the previous Thanksgiving. He was then placed in the care of Lazaro Gonzalez and his family. But when the Justice Department ruled in January 2001 that he should be returned to his father in Cardenas, Cuba, the Miami family resisted and sought help from the courts and Congress. Meanwhile, the Justice Department claimed it tried to reach an agreement with the family. During late-night negotiations, the INS raided the home. Copyright 2002 by United Press International
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