United States Second Circuit

District court is instructed to issue a writ of habeas corpus to the plaintiff, who has been detained based on his designation as an enemy combatant. The President lacks inherent constitutional power to detain, as an enemy combatant, an American citizen seized within the country away from a zone of combat, and Congress has not authorized such detentions.

Appellate Information

• Decided 12/18/2003
• Published 12/18/2003

Judges

• Before:  POOLER, B.D. PARKER and WESLEY, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Second Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Jenny S. Martinez, Stanford, CA;  David W. DeBruin, Donald B. Verrilli, Jr., Sharon M. McGowan, Jenner & Block LLC, Washington, D.C., for Amici Curiae Hon. John J. Gibbons, Hon. Nathaniel R. Jones, Hon. Abner J. Mikva, Hon. William A. Norris, Hon. H. Lee Sarokin, Hon. Harold R. Tyler, Jr., Donald Francis Donovan, Scott Greathead, Robert E. Juceam, Philip Allen Lacovara, Robert Todd Lang, Robert M. Pennoyer, Barbara Paul Robinson, and William D. Zabel in support of Petitioner., Alfred P. Carlton, Jr., American Bar Association;  John Payton, Seth P. Waxman, Paul R.Q. Wolfson, Kate Hutchins, Jonathan H. Siegelbaum, Jerrod C. Patterson, Chicago, IL, for Amicus Curiae American Bar Association in support of Petitioner., Steven R. Shapiro, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation;  Arthur N. Eisenberg, New York Civil Liberties Union Foundation;  Lucas Guttentag, Robin L. Goldfaden, Jonathan L. Hafetz, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation Immigrants' Rights Project, New York, NY, for Amici Curiae American Civil Liberties Union and New York Civil Liberties Union in support of Petitioner., Benito Romano, Joseph G. Davis, Mary Eaton, Willkie Farr & Gallagher, New York, NY, for Amicus Curiae Association of the Bar of the City of New York in support of Petitioner., Jonathan M. Freiman, Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, New Haven, CT;  Wiggin & Dana LLP, New Haven, CT, for Amici Curiae The Cato Institute, The Center for National Security Studies, The Constitution Project, The Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, People for the American Way, and The Rutherford Institute in support of Petitioner., Barbara J. Olshansky, Jules Lobel, Michael Ratner, Shayana Kadidal, Nancy Chang, Jennifer Green, Center for Constitutional Rights, New York, N.Y. for Amici Curiae Center for Constitutional Rights, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Center for Human Rights & Constitutional Law, National Lawyers Guild, National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, National Lawyers Guild/Maurice & Jane Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, et al. in support of Petitioner., Allison Marston Danner, Nashville, TN, for Amici Curiae Experts on the Law of War in support of Petitioner., Wallace A. Showman LLP, New York, NY, for Amici Curiae Law Professors in support of Petitioner., Joshua L. Dratel, Joshua L. Dratel, P.C., New York, NY;  Donald G. Rehkopf, Jr., Law Office of Brenna & Brenna, Rochester, NY, for Amici Curiae National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in support of Petitioner., Edward M. Shaw, New York Council of Defense Lawyers;  Richard A. Greenberg, New York Council of Defense Lawyers, New York, NY, for Amicus Curiae The New York Council of Defense Lawyers in support of Petitioner., James W. Klein, Giovanna Shay, Timothy P. O'Toole, Public Defender Service, Washington, D.C., for Amicus Curiae Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia in support of Petitioner., Rachel H. Wolkenstein, Paul Cooperstein, New York, NY, for Amici Curiae Spartacist League and Partisan Defense Committee in support of Petitioner.


• For Appellees:
  
• Paul D. Clement, Deputy Solicitor General, Washington, D.C. (David B. Salmons, Sri Srinivasan, Assistants to the Solicitor General, Jonathan L. Marcus, Attorney, Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., James B. Comey, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Eric B. Bruce, Christine H. Chung, Assistant United States Attorneys, New York, NY, on the brief), for Respondent-Appellant-Cross-Appellee., Donna R. Newman, Andrew G. Patel, New York, NY, for Petitioner-Appellee-Cross-Appellant., Daniel J. Popeo, Richard A. Samp, Washington Legal Foundation, Washington, D.C., for Amici Curiae Washington Legal Foundation, Allied Educational Foundation, and U.S. Representatives Walter Jones, Lamar Smith, and John Sweeney in support of Respondent.