Detention of American Citizens as Enemy Combatants

Publication Date: March 2005

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Justice

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Abstract:

The Supreme Court in 2004 issued three decisions related to the detention of "enemy combatants," including two that deal with U.S. citizens in military custody on American soil. In Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, a plurality held that a U.S. citizen allegedly captured during combat in Afghanistan and incarcerated at a Navy brig in South Carolina is entitled to notice and an opportunity to be heard by a neutral decisionmaker regarding the government's reasons for detaining him. The Court in Rumsfeld v. Padilla overturned a lower court's grant of habeas corpus to another U.S. citizen in military custody in South Carolina on jurisdictional grounds. The decisions affirm the President's powers to detain "enemy combatants,"including those who are U.S. citizens, as part of the necessary force authorized by Congress after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. However the Court appears to have limited the scope of individuals who may be treated as enemy combatants pursuant to that authority, and clarified that such detainees have some due process rights under the U.S. Constitution. This report, which will be updated as necessary, analyzes the authority to detain American citizens who are suspected of being members, agents, or associates of Al Qaeda, the Taliban and possibly other terrorist organizations as "enemy combatants."

The Department of Justice argues that the recent decisions, coupled with two World War II era cases, Ex parte Quirin and In re Territo, support its contention that the President may order that certain U.S. citizens as well as non-citizens be held as enemy combatants pursuant to the law of war and Article II of the Constitution. Critics, however, question whether the decisions permit the detention of U.S. citizens captured away from any actual battlefield, in order to prevent terrorist acts or gather intelligence; and some argue that Congress has prohibited such detention of U.S. citizens when it enacted 18 U.S.C. § 4001(a).

This report provides background information regarding the cases of two U.S. citizens deemed "enemy combatants," Yaser Esam Hamdi, who has been returned to Saudi Arabia, and Jose Padilla, who remains in military custody while the government appeals a district court order to charge him with a crime or release him. A brief introduction to the law of war pertinent to the detention of different categories of individuals is offered, followed by brief analyses of the main legal precedents invoked to support the President's actions, as well as Ex parte Milligan, which some argue supports the opposite conclusion. A discussion of U.S. practice during wartime to detain persons deemed dangerous to the national security follows, including legislative history that may help to shed light on Congress' intent in authorizing the use of force to fight terrorism. Finally, the report briefly analyzes the proposed Detention of Enemy Combatants Act, H.R. 1076, which would authorize the President to detain U.S. citizens and residents who are determined to be "enemy combatants" in certain circumstances. The report concludes that historically, even during declared wars, additional statutory authority has been seen as necessary to validate the detention of citizens not members of any armed forces, casting in some doubt the argument that the power to detain persons arrested in a context other than actual hostilities is necessarily implied by an authorization to use force.