Detention of U.S. Citizens

Publication Date: April 2005

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Justice

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Abstract:

In 1971, Congress passed legislation to repeal the Emergency Detention Act of 1950 and to enact the following language: "No citizen shall be imprisoned or otherwise detained by the United States except pursuant to an Act of Congress." The new language, codified at 18 U.S.C. §4001(a), is called the Non-Detention Act. This statutory provision received attention after the 9/11 terrorist attacks when the Administration designated certain U.S. citizens as "enemy combatants" and claimed the right to detain them indefinitely without charging them, bringing them to trial, or giving them access to counsel. In litigation over Yaser Esam Hamdi and Jose Padilla, both designated enemy combatants, the Administration has argued that the Non-Detention Act restricts only imprisonments and detentions by the Attorney General, not by the President or military authorities. For more detailed analysis, see CRS Report RL31724, Detention of American Citizens as Enemy Combatants, by Jennifer K. Elsea. This report will be updated as events warrant.