Los Angeles ? The full Western appeals court voted Thursday to let stand its September decision that former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft is not immune from a civil action charging that he violated a Kansas-born Muslim convert’s constitutional rights by having him arrested without probable cause.

Ashcroft had petitioned the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for rehearing of his claim of immunity, which was denied in the 2-1 ruling six months ago that Abdullah Kidd could proceed with his lawsuit.

In the September ruling by the split three-judge panel, the majority characterized Ashcroft’s alleged detention policy as “repugnant to the Constitution, and a painful reminder of some of the most ignominious chapters of our national history.”