In reaction to the September 11, 2001 terror
attacks on the United States, Congress passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force,
or AUMF. The AUMF granted authority to the President
to use all appropriate and necessary force against people suspected of engaging in terrorism
against the United States. U.S. citizen Yaser Hamdi was arrested in Afghanistan
in 2001 and turned over to U.S. military forces. Hamdi was taken into custody as an “enemy
combatant,” on suspicion of affiliating with al-Qaeda. U.S. military personnel interrogated Hamdi,
then sent him to detention centers in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Virginia, and South Carolina. At no time was Hamdi charged with a crime,
provided legal counsel, or afforded the opportunity to contest his detainment. Hamdi’s father filed a habeas corpus petition
on Hamdi’s behalf, seeking legal counsel, an order to stop interrogation, an evidentiary
hearing on the factual basis for his detention, a declaration that Hamdi’s detention was
unconstitutional, and an order that Hamdi be released. The district court appointed a lawyer and
ordered that he be given access to Hamdi, but the court of appeals reversed, arguing
the government’s security interests deserved more deference. The government argued it had the right to
hold Hamdi indefinitely, because military screening teams had determined he was an “enemy
combatant.” In support of its motion to dismiss, the government
submitted a declaration from a defense department advisor (the Mobbs Declaration) setting forth
the basis for Hamdi’s detention. The district court concluded the Mobbs Declaration,
which was the only evidence the government offered, was not enough to justify Hamdi’s
indefinite detention and ordered the government to turn over more evidence for in camera review. The Fourth Circuit reversed, finding the Mobbs
Declaration, “if accurate,” sufficient to justify Hamdi’s detention. The court of appeals dismissed Hamdi’s habeas
petition. Hamdi petitioned the United States Supreme
Court for certiorari, which was granted. Justice O’Connor, writing for the majority,
vacated the judgment and remanded the case. O’Connor found that, while Hamdi’s seizure,
interrogation, and detention were valid under the authority that Congress granted to the
President in the AUMF, Hamdi’s continued, indefinite detention without due process violated
his constitutional rights. Under the laws of war, an enemy combatant
may be detained only as long as active hostilities last, but the war on terror is unique; Hamdi
could be detained for life. The majority concluded that traditional due
process analysis was inappropriate. Thus, it applied the test articulated in Mathews
v. Eldridge. Hamdi’s constitutional rights had to be
balanced against the government’s security interest, and the Court had to consider the
risk of erroneous deprivation of rights posed by lesser procedural safeguards and the value
of additional procedures. The Court held that the government must provide
a citizen-detainee challenging his classification as an enemy combatant with “notice of the
factual basis for his classification” and a fair opportunity to rebut the government’s
factual assertions before a neutral decision-maker. Beyond these basic elements, the Court found
that the government could modify trial procedures, such as by admitting hearsay or employing
a presumption in favor of government evidence, to help reduce the burden on the executive
of conducting such proceedings during military struggles. Justice Souter concurred in part and dissented
in part. Souter concluded that the AUMF did not authorize
Hamdi’s detention. Thus, Hamdi’s continued incarceration violated
the Non-Detention Act, which prohibits the detention of an American citizen unless pursuant
to an act of Congress. Because Hamdi was not being held according
to any statutory authorization or the laws of war, Souter argued that Hamdi should be
released with no further procedures required. Justices Scalia disagreed with his colleagues
that there should be a special process for determining the status of citizen-enemy combatants. Scalia argued that because Hamdi was a U.S.
citizen, he should have been charged criminally as a traitor and provided with all the constitutional
protections of the Due Process Clause and procedural safeguards of the traditional criminal
justice system. The only alternative to this procedure, in
Scalia’s view, was a valid suspension of habeas corpus by Congress. In Justice Thomas’s dissent, he argued that
the President and Congress, not the courts, should decide the appropriate means of determining
enemy combatant status through an exercise of their respective war powers. As such, Thomas would have denied Hamdi’s
habeas petition without remand. Hamdi v. Rumsfeld was a hugely important decision
in terms of defining executive powers and the meaning of due process in the war on terror,
which is in many ways unlike the conflicts the U.S. has been involved with in the past. Hamdi reaffirmed that citizens, even citizens
captured abroad and classified as enemy combatants, still had a right to minimum due process. The same day, the Supreme Court also handed
down its ruling in Rasul v. Bush that civil courts had jurisdiction to hear habeas petitions
from foreign nationals detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Together, these two cases represented a limited,
but calculated check on the expansion of executive power post-9/11 and a reaffirmation of the
judiciary’s role in safeguarding individual rights, even in times of national emergency. If you found this video helpful, you can explore
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