[1] The plaintiff, Abdullah al-Kidd (born Lavoni T. Kidd in Wichita, Kansas), was an American citizen and a prominent football player at the University of Idaho.

He was held for two weeks under the federal material-witness statute[4] and controlled by supervised release for 13 months because he was to testify in the trial of Sami Omar Al-Hussayen.

[2] In 2009, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit found that Ashcroft could personally be sued and held responsible for al-Kidd's wrongful detention.

[2] On May 31, 2011, the Supreme Court, in an 8–0 ruling,[8] stated that al-Kidd's lawyers had not met the high burden of proof needed to show that Attorney General Ashcroft could be personally sued, that he was directly involved or had explicit knowledge of the events (suggesting the matter was handled mostly by distant subordinates).

In the majority opinion written by Justice Scalia, the court ruled that "Qualified immunity gives government officials breathing room to make reasonable but mistaken judgments about open legal questions.