Yaser Esam Hamdi
Encyclopedia
Yaser Esam Hamdi is a now-former American citizen who was captured in Afghanistan
in 2001. It is claimed by the U.S. government that he was fighting against U.S. and Afghan Northern Alliance forces with the Taliban. He was named by the Bush administration
as an "illegal enemy combatant", and detained for almost three years without receiving any charges.
He was initially detained at Camp X-Ray
at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
, and was later transferred to military jails in Virginia
and South Carolina
after it became known that he was a U.S. citizen.
Critics of his imprisonment claimed his civil rights
were violated and that he was denied due process of law under the U.S. Constitution, including imprisonment without formal charges and denial
of legal representation.
On June 28, 2004, in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld
, the United States Supreme Court
rejected the U.S. government's attempts to detain Hamdi indefinitely without trial.
On September 23, 2004, the United States Justice Department
released Hamdi to Saudi Arabia
on the condition that he give up his U.S. citizenship
.
n parents in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
, on September 26, 1980.
As a child, he left the U.S.
with his parents to live in Saudi Arabia
.
According to the Charleston Post and Courier Hamdi ran away from home and trained at a Taliban camp. They reported he only spent a few weeks at the camp, "where he quickly became disillusioned".
, Hamdi was captured by Afghan Northern Alliance forces in Konduz, Afghanistan
, along with hundreds of surrendering Taliban fighters who were then sent to the Qala-e-Jangi prison complex near Mazari Sharif.
Among the surrendering Taliban forces, Afghan Arabs
instigated a prison riot by detonating grenades they had concealed in their clothing, attacking Northern Alliance guards and seizing weapons. The prison uprising was quashed after a three-day battle which included heavy airsupport from U.S. AC-130 gunships and Black Hawk helicopters. One American was killed and 9 were injured along with about 50 Northern Alliance soldiers. Between 200 to 400 Taliban prisoners were killed during the prison uprising. Two American prisoners, Hamdi and John Walker Lindh
, were among the survivors.
Hamdi surrendered on the second day of fighting, with a group of 73 surviving prisoners after Coalition forces began flooding the underground basements where the remaining prisoners had hidden themselves. American officer Matthew Campbell approached him, demanding to know his origin, to which Hamdi replied "I was born in America... Baton Rouge, Louisiana
, you know it, yeah?".
Armed with the federal appeals court finding, the Bush administration
refused Hamdi a lawyer until December 2003 at which time The Pentagon
announced that Hamdi would be allowed access to counsel because his intelligence value had been exhausted and that giving him a lawyer would not harm national security. The announcement said the decision "should not be treated as a precedent" for other cases in which the government had designated U.S. citizens as "illegal enemy combatants". (José Padilla
is the only other U.S. citizen known to be imprisoned by the U.S. government as an "illegal enemy combatant"). Frank Dunham, Hamdi’s lawyer, was allowed to meet with Hamdi for the first time in December 2003, more than two years after Hamdi was incarcerated. Under guidelines drafted by Pentagon lawyers, military observers attended and recorded the meetings between Dunham and Hamdi, and Dunham was not allowed to discuss with Hamdi the conditions of his confinement. [Mr. Hamdi actually met his lawyers for the first time in February 2004. After that initial meeting, Hamdi was allowed to have confidential discussions with his attorneys without military observers or video or audio taping in a room at the Navy Brig in Charleston, South Carolina.]
Hamdi's father petitioned a federal court
for Hamdi's rights to know the crime(s) he is accused of, and to receive a fair trial before imprisonment. The case was eventually decided by United States Supreme Court.
In January 2004, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Hamdi's case (Hamdi v. Rumsfeld
), embracing the basic rights of U.S. citizens to due process
protections, and rejecting the administration's claim that its war-making powers overrode constitutional
liberties
.
jet carrying David Addington
, Alberto Gonzales
, John A. Rizzo
, William Haynes II, two Justice Department lawyers, Alice S. Fisher
and Patrick F. Philbin
, and the Office of Legal Counsel
's Jack Goldsmith
flew to Camp Delta
to view Mohammed al-Kahtani, then to Charleston, South Carolina
to view Jose Padilla, and finally to Norfolk, Virginia
to view Hamdi.
Upon viewing Hamdi curled in a fetal position
in his cell, Goldsmith wrote "it seemed unnecessary to hold a twenty-two year old foot soldier in a remote wing of a run-down prison in a tiny cell, isolated from almost all human contact, and with no access to a lawyer".
There were 91 pages of 2002 memos drafted by officers at the Naval Consolidated Brig, Charleston
, which did not become public until six years later.
The memos indicate that officers were concerned that the isolation and lack of stimuli was driving Yasser Hamdi, José Padilla and Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri
insane.
briefs were filed in the Hamdi case, including three in support of the U.S. government and nine on behalf of Hamdi. Supporters of the U.S. government's position included the American Center for Law and Justice
; Citizens for the Common Defence; filing jointly, the Washington Legal Foundation, U.S. Representatives Joe Barton, Walter Jones, and Lamar Smith, and Allied Educational Foundation http://www.jenner.com/news/news_item.asp?id=12551224; and, also filing jointly, the Center for American Unity, Friends of Immigration Law Enforcement, National Center on Citizenship and Immigration, and U.S. Representatives Dana Rohrabacher
, Smith, Tom Tancredo
, Roscoe Bartlett
, Mac Collins
, Joe Barton
, and John Duncan.
Some supporters of the government's right to detain Hamdi indefinitely argued that he had renounced his citizenship by virtue of enlisting in a foreign army. The Center for American Unity
brief argued that Hamdi was never actually a United States citizen, despite his birth in the U.S. Their brief argued that the policy of birthright citizenship
is based on a flawed interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment
. http://web.archive.org/web/20050306090853/http://fileus.com/dept/citizenship/hamdi/04-03-25-Amicus_brf_USSC_merits_final.html
The American Bar Association
; American Civil Liberties Union
, American Jewish Committee
, Trial Lawyers For Public Justice, and Union For Reform Judaism filing jointly; the Cato Institute
; Experts on the Law of War; Certain Former Prisoners of War; Global Rights; Hon. Nathaniel R. Jones, Hon. Abner J. Mikva
, Hon. William A. Norris, Hon. H. Lee Sarokin, Hon. Herbert J. Stern, Hon. Harold R. Tyler, Jr., Scott Greathead, Robert M. Pennoyer, and Barbara Paul Robinson filing jointly; International Humanitarian Organizations and Associations Of International Journalists filing jointly; and a group of international law professors filing jointly submitted amici curiæ briefs to the court on behalf of Hamdi. http://www.jenner.com/news/news_item.asp?id=12551224.
Opponents of the U.S. government's detention without trial of U.S. citizens argued that the practice violated numerous constitutional safeguards and protections, as well as international conventions to which the U.S. is a signatory.
"An interrogation by one's captor, however effective an intelligence-gathering tool, hardly constitutes a constitutionally adequate fact-finding before a neutral decision-maker," wrote Justice Sandra Day O'Connor
.
The U.S. Supreme Court opinion reasserted the rule of law
in American society: "It is during our most challenging and uncertain moments that our nation's commitment to due process is most severely tested; and it is in those times that we must preserve our commitment at home to the principles for which we fight abroad."
Justice O'Connor added, "We have long since made clear that a state of war is not a blank check for the President when it comes to the rights of the nation's citizens."
The Supreme Court decision in Hamdi did not say that the government cannot detain enemy combatants: it can detain enemy combatants for the length of hostilities. However, they must give some sort of due process for determining their status as an enemy combatant. Although Congress has recognized the existence of the Pentagon's administrative procedure, the CSRT, the Supreme Court has not recognized it as providing due process.
, the Supreme Court prohibited military detention of noncombatant Americans without appeal or writ of habeas corpus
, as long as the courts were functioning, the difference with this case being that the Supreme Court waited until the War was over to decide the case. A 1971 law condemned the detention of Japanese-Americans
without legal recourse
during World War II and prohibited the imprisonment of American citizens except pursuant to an act of Congress.
The Bush administration
claimed that U.S. law does not apply to "illegal enemy combatants" and, furthermore, the Bush administration asserted the right to decide which U.S. citizens are "enemy combatants," ineligible for protection of their rights as enshrined in the United States Constitution
.
Some legal scholars hailed the Supreme Court decision as the most important civil rights
opinion in a half-century and a dramatic reversal of the sweeping authority asserted by the White House
after the September 11, 2001 attacks
.
, Israel
, the West Bank
and Gaza Strip
, Syria
, Iraq
, Afghanistan
, and Pakistan
. Hamdi was also required to notify Saudi Arabian officials if he ever plans to leave the kingdom and he had to promise not to sue the U.S. government over his captivity.
Though Hamdi renounced his U.S. citizenship, it is unclear under these circumstances if the renunciation was "voluntary" as required by the Supreme Court's decisions in Afroyim v. Rusk
and Vance v. Terrazas
, especially since the U.S. presently holds that formal renunciations are only valid if made before a U.S. consular or diplomatic officer outside the U.S. If Hamdi ever tries to reclaim his U.S. citizenship, his renunciation may thus be subject to challenge before a U.S. court.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
in 2001. It is claimed by the U.S. government that he was fighting against U.S. and Afghan Northern Alliance forces with the Taliban. He was named by the Bush administration
George W. Bush administration
The presidency of George W. Bush began on January 20, 2001, when he was inaugurated as the 43rd President of the United States of America. The oldest son of former president George H. W. Bush, George W...
as an "illegal enemy combatant", and detained for almost three years without receiving any charges.
He was initially detained at Camp X-Ray
Camp X-Ray
Camp X-Ray was a temporary detention facility at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp of Joint Task Force Guantanamo on the U.S. Naval Base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.The first twenty detainees arrived at Guantanamo on January 11, 2002....
at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, and was later transferred to military jails in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
and South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
after it became known that he was a U.S. citizen.
Critics of his imprisonment claimed his civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
were violated and that he was denied due process of law under the U.S. Constitution, including imprisonment without formal charges and denial
Denial of request
Denial of request is the refusal of one party to grant the request of another. Some acts that can be considered denial may include the refusal of a person or a group of people representing a company, organization, or government agency to provide what a client or one seeking to be a client has...
of legal representation.
On June 28, 2004, in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld
Hamdi v. Rumsfeld
Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, 542 U.S. 507 was a U.S. Supreme Court decision reversing the dismissal of a habeas corpus petition brought on behalf of Yaser Esam Hamdi, a U.S. citizen being detained indefinitely as an "illegal enemy combatant." The Court recognized the power of the government to detain enemy...
, the United States Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
rejected the U.S. government's attempts to detain Hamdi indefinitely without trial.
On September 23, 2004, the United States Justice Department
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
released Hamdi to Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
on the condition that he give up his U.S. citizenship
Citizenship
Citizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community. Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities...
.
Early years
According to his birth certificate, Hamdi was born to Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
n parents in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge is the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and is the second-largest city in the state.Baton Rouge is a major industrial, petrochemical, medical, and research center of the American South...
, on September 26, 1980.
As a child, he left the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
with his parents to live in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
.
According to the Charleston Post and Courier Hamdi ran away from home and trained at a Taliban camp. They reported he only spent a few weeks at the camp, "where he quickly became disillusioned".
Afghanistan
In late November 2001, after the U.S. invasion of AfghanistanWar in Afghanistan (2001–present)
The War in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001, as the armed forces of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Afghan United Front launched Operation Enduring Freedom...
, Hamdi was captured by Afghan Northern Alliance forces in Konduz, Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, along with hundreds of surrendering Taliban fighters who were then sent to the Qala-e-Jangi prison complex near Mazari Sharif.
Among the surrendering Taliban forces, Afghan Arabs
Afghan Arabs
Afghan Arabs were Arab and other Muslim Islamist mujahideen who came to Afghanistan during and following the Soviet-Afghan War to help fellow Muslims fight Soviets and pro-Soviet Afghans....
instigated a prison riot by detonating grenades they had concealed in their clothing, attacking Northern Alliance guards and seizing weapons. The prison uprising was quashed after a three-day battle which included heavy airsupport from U.S. AC-130 gunships and Black Hawk helicopters. One American was killed and 9 were injured along with about 50 Northern Alliance soldiers. Between 200 to 400 Taliban prisoners were killed during the prison uprising. Two American prisoners, Hamdi and John Walker Lindh
John Walker Lindh
John Phillip Walker Lindh is a United States citizen who was captured as an enemy combatant during the United States' 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. He is now serving a 20-year prison sentence in connection with his participation in Afghanistan's Taliban army...
, were among the survivors.
Hamdi surrendered on the second day of fighting, with a group of 73 surviving prisoners after Coalition forces began flooding the underground basements where the remaining prisoners had hidden themselves. American officer Matthew Campbell approached him, demanding to know his origin, to which Hamdi replied "I was born in America... Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge is the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and is the second-largest city in the state.Baton Rouge is a major industrial, petrochemical, medical, and research center of the American South...
, you know it, yeah?".
Armed with the federal appeals court finding, the Bush administration
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
refused Hamdi a lawyer until December 2003 at which time The Pentagon
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
announced that Hamdi would be allowed access to counsel because his intelligence value had been exhausted and that giving him a lawyer would not harm national security. The announcement said the decision "should not be treated as a precedent" for other cases in which the government had designated U.S. citizens as "illegal enemy combatants". (José Padilla
José Padilla (alleged terrorist)
José Padilla , also known as Abdullah al-Muhajir or Muhajir Abdullah, is a United States citizen convicted of aiding terrorists....
is the only other U.S. citizen known to be imprisoned by the U.S. government as an "illegal enemy combatant"). Frank Dunham, Hamdi’s lawyer, was allowed to meet with Hamdi for the first time in December 2003, more than two years after Hamdi was incarcerated. Under guidelines drafted by Pentagon lawyers, military observers attended and recorded the meetings between Dunham and Hamdi, and Dunham was not allowed to discuss with Hamdi the conditions of his confinement. [Mr. Hamdi actually met his lawyers for the first time in February 2004. After that initial meeting, Hamdi was allowed to have confidential discussions with his attorneys without military observers or video or audio taping in a room at the Navy Brig in Charleston, South Carolina.]
Hamdi's father petitioned a federal court
United States federal courts
The United States federal courts make up the judiciary branch of federal government of the United States organized under the United States Constitution and laws of the federal government.-Categories:...
for Hamdi's rights to know the crime(s) he is accused of, and to receive a fair trial before imprisonment. The case was eventually decided by United States Supreme Court.
In January 2004, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Hamdi's case (Hamdi v. Rumsfeld
Hamdi v. Rumsfeld
Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, 542 U.S. 507 was a U.S. Supreme Court decision reversing the dismissal of a habeas corpus petition brought on behalf of Yaser Esam Hamdi, a U.S. citizen being detained indefinitely as an "illegal enemy combatant." The Court recognized the power of the government to detain enemy...
), embracing the basic rights of U.S. citizens to due process
Due process
Due process is the legal code that the state must venerate all of the legal rights that are owed to a person under the principle. Due process balances the power of the state law of the land and thus protects individual persons from it...
protections, and rejecting the administration's claim that its war-making powers overrode constitutional
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
liberties
Liberty
Liberty is a moral and political principle, or Right, that identifies the condition in which human beings are able to govern themselves, to behave according to their own free will, and take responsibility for their actions...
.
2002 memos
Shortly after September 26, 2002, a GulfstreamGulfstream Aerospace
Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation is a producer of several models of jet aircraft. Gulfstream has been a unit of General Dynamics since 1999.The company has produced more than 1,500 aircraft for corporate, government, private, and military customers around the world...
jet carrying David Addington
David Addington
David Spears Addington , was legal counsel and chief of staff to former Vice President Dick Cheney, and is now vice president of domestic and economic policy studies at The Heritage Foundation....
, Alberto Gonzales
Alberto Gonzales
Alberto R. Gonzales was the 80th Attorney General of the United States. Gonzales was appointed to the post in February 2005 by President George W. Bush. Gonzales was the first Hispanic Attorney General in U.S. history and the highest-ranking Hispanic government official ever...
, John A. Rizzo
John A. Rizzo
John A. Rizzo was a lawyer at the Central Intelligence Agency for 34 years. He was the acting General Counsel or Deputy Counsel of the CIA for the first nine years of the War on Terror, during which the CIA held dozens of detainees in black site prisons around the globe. "Enhanced interrogation...
, William Haynes II, two Justice Department lawyers, Alice S. Fisher
Alice S. Fisher
Alice S. Fisher was appointed by President George W. Bush in a recess appointment August 31, 2005, as Assistant Attorney General to head the Criminal Division in the United States Department of Justice....
and Patrick F. Philbin
Patrick F. Philbin
Patrick F. Philbin is an American lawyer and Bush administration appointee.-Academics:Philbin wrote a note in the Harvard Law Review regarding the specialty requirement in the medieval action of covenant.-Career:...
, and the Office of Legal Counsel
Office of Legal Counsel
The Office of Legal Counsel is an office in the United States Department of Justice that assists the Attorney General in his function as legal adviser to the President and all executive branch agencies.-History:...
's Jack Goldsmith
Jack Goldsmith
Jack Landman Goldsmith is a Harvard Law School professor who has written a number of texts regarding international law, cyber law, and national security law...
flew to Camp Delta
Camp Delta
Camp Delta is a permanent detainment camp at Guantanamo Bay that replaced the temporary facilities of Camp X-Ray. Its first facilities were built between February 27 and mid-April 2002 by Navy Seabees, Marine Engineers, and workers from Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root...
to view Mohammed al-Kahtani, then to Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
to view Jose Padilla, and finally to Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
to view Hamdi.
Upon viewing Hamdi curled in a fetal position
Fetal position
Fetal position is a medical term used to describe the positioning of the body of a prenatal fetus as it develops...
in his cell, Goldsmith wrote "it seemed unnecessary to hold a twenty-two year old foot soldier in a remote wing of a run-down prison in a tiny cell, isolated from almost all human contact, and with no access to a lawyer".
There were 91 pages of 2002 memos drafted by officers at the Naval Consolidated Brig, Charleston
Naval Consolidated Brig, Charleston
The Naval Consolidated Brig , is a medium security U.S. military prison. The brig, Building #3107, is located in the south annex of Joint Base Charleston in the city of Hanahan, South Carolina....
, which did not become public until six years later.
The memos indicate that officers were concerned that the isolation and lack of stimuli was driving Yasser Hamdi, José Padilla and Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri
Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri
Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri is a citizen of Qatar who was arrested on charges of being a sleeper al Qaeda agent while studying at Bradley University in the United States. After denying any wrongdoing since his arrest, al-Marri pled guilty in a plea agreement to the federal charges on April 30, 2009...
insane.
U.S. Supreme Court amici curiæ briefs
Twelve U.S. Supreme Court amici curiæAmicus curiae
An amicus curiae is someone, not a party to a case, who volunteers to offer information to assist a court in deciding a matter before it...
briefs were filed in the Hamdi case, including three in support of the U.S. government and nine on behalf of Hamdi. Supporters of the U.S. government's position included the American Center for Law and Justice
American Center for Law and Justice
The American Center for Law & Justice is a conservative Christian, pro-life group that was founded in 1990 by evangelical Pat Robertson.-History:...
; Citizens for the Common Defence; filing jointly, the Washington Legal Foundation, U.S. Representatives Joe Barton, Walter Jones, and Lamar Smith, and Allied Educational Foundation http://www.jenner.com/news/news_item.asp?id=12551224; and, also filing jointly, the Center for American Unity, Friends of Immigration Law Enforcement, National Center on Citizenship and Immigration, and U.S. Representatives Dana Rohrabacher
Dana Rohrabacher
Dana Tyron Rohrabacher is the U.S. Representative for , and previously the 45th and 42nd, serving since 1989. He is a member of the Republican Party...
, Smith, Tom Tancredo
Tom Tancredo
Thomas Gerard "Tom" Tancredo is an American politician from Colorado, who represented the state's sixth congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1999 to 2009, as a Republican...
, Roscoe Bartlett
Roscoe Bartlett
Roscoe Gardner Bartlett, Ph.D. is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1993. He is a member of the Republican Party, and a member of the Tea Party Caucus...
, Mac Collins
Mac Collins
Michael Allen "Mac" Collins , American politician, was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1993 to 2005, representing the...
, Joe Barton
Joe Barton
Joseph Linus "Joe" Barton is a Republican politician, representing in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1985, and a member of the Tea Party Caucus...
, and John Duncan.
Some supporters of the government's right to detain Hamdi indefinitely argued that he had renounced his citizenship by virtue of enlisting in a foreign army. The Center for American Unity
Center for American Unity
The Center for American Unity is an American non-profit educational organization dedicated to "preserving our historical unity as Americans into the 21st Century"...
brief argued that Hamdi was never actually a United States citizen, despite his birth in the U.S. Their brief argued that the policy of birthright citizenship
Birthright citizenship in the United States of America
Birthright citizenship in the United States refers to a person's acquisition of United States citizenship by virtue of the circumstances of his or her birth. It contrasts with citizenship acquired in other ways, for example by naturalization later in life. Birthright citizenship may be conferred by...
is based on a flawed interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments.Its Citizenship Clause provides a broad definition of citizenship that overruled the Dred Scott v...
. http://web.archive.org/web/20050306090853/http://fileus.com/dept/citizenship/hamdi/04-03-25-Amicus_brf_USSC_merits_final.html
The American Bar Association
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association , founded August 21, 1878, is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. The ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation...
; American Civil Liberties Union
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
, American Jewish Committee
American Jewish Committee
The American Jewish Committee was "founded in 1906 with the aim of rallying all sections of American Jewry to defend the rights of Jews all over the world...
, Trial Lawyers For Public Justice, and Union For Reform Judaism filing jointly; the Cato Institute
Cato Institute
The Cato Institute is a libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Edward H. Crane, who remains president and CEO, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the conglomerate Koch Industries, Inc., the largest privately held...
; Experts on the Law of War; Certain Former Prisoners of War; Global Rights; Hon. Nathaniel R. Jones, Hon. Abner J. Mikva
Abner J. Mikva
Abner Joseph Mikva is a Democratic former U.S. Representative, federal judge and law professor from Chicago.-Biography:Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Mikva attended the University of Chicago Law School, from which he graduated in 1951...
, Hon. William A. Norris, Hon. H. Lee Sarokin, Hon. Herbert J. Stern, Hon. Harold R. Tyler, Jr., Scott Greathead, Robert M. Pennoyer, and Barbara Paul Robinson filing jointly; International Humanitarian Organizations and Associations Of International Journalists filing jointly; and a group of international law professors filing jointly submitted amici curiæ briefs to the court on behalf of Hamdi. http://www.jenner.com/news/news_item.asp?id=12551224.
Opponents of the U.S. government's detention without trial of U.S. citizens argued that the practice violated numerous constitutional safeguards and protections, as well as international conventions to which the U.S. is a signatory.
U.S. Supreme Court decision
On June 28, 2004, the Supreme Court issued a decision repudiating the U.S. government's unilateral assertion of executive authority to suspend constitutional protections of individual liberty."An interrogation by one's captor, however effective an intelligence-gathering tool, hardly constitutes a constitutionally adequate fact-finding before a neutral decision-maker," wrote Justice Sandra Day O'Connor
Sandra Day O'Connor
Sandra Day O'Connor is an American jurist who was the first female member of the Supreme Court of the United States. She served as an Associate Justice from 1981 until her retirement from the Court in 2006. O'Connor was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981...
.
The U.S. Supreme Court opinion reasserted the rule of law
Rule of law
The rule of law, sometimes called supremacy of law, is a legal maxim that says that governmental decisions should be made by applying known principles or laws with minimal discretion in their application...
in American society: "It is during our most challenging and uncertain moments that our nation's commitment to due process is most severely tested; and it is in those times that we must preserve our commitment at home to the principles for which we fight abroad."
Justice O'Connor added, "We have long since made clear that a state of war is not a blank check for the President when it comes to the rights of the nation's citizens."
The Supreme Court decision in Hamdi did not say that the government cannot detain enemy combatants: it can detain enemy combatants for the length of hostilities. However, they must give some sort of due process for determining their status as an enemy combatant. Although Congress has recognized the existence of the Pentagon's administrative procedure, the CSRT, the Supreme Court has not recognized it as providing due process.
Legal significance
The Hamdi decision reaffirmed the importance of separation of powers among the branches of the government, and, in particular, the role of the judiciary in reviewing actions of the executive branch infringing the rights of citizens even in emergencies. After the American Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, the Supreme Court prohibited military detention of noncombatant Americans without appeal or writ of habeas corpus
Habeas corpus
is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...
, as long as the courts were functioning, the difference with this case being that the Supreme Court waited until the War was over to decide the case. A 1971 law condemned the detention of Japanese-Americans
Japanese American internment
Japanese-American internment was the relocation and internment by the United States government in 1942 of approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese who lived along the Pacific coast of the United States to camps called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on...
without legal recourse
Legal recourse
A legal recourse is an action that can be taken by an individual or a corporation to attempt to remedy a legal difficulty.* A lawsuit if the issue is a matter of civil law* Many contracts require mediation or arbitration before a dispute can go to court...
during World War II and prohibited the imprisonment of American citizens except pursuant to an act of Congress.
The Bush administration
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
claimed that U.S. law does not apply to "illegal enemy combatants" and, furthermore, the Bush administration asserted the right to decide which U.S. citizens are "enemy combatants," ineligible for protection of their rights as enshrined in the United States Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
.
Some legal scholars hailed the Supreme Court decision as the most important civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
opinion in a half-century and a dramatic reversal of the sweeping authority asserted by the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
after the September 11, 2001 attacks
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
.
Release
On October 9, 2004, Hamdi was released and deported to Saudi Arabia after agreeing to renounce his U.S. citizenship and promising to comply with strict travel restrictions preventing him from travel to the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
and Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
. Hamdi was also required to notify Saudi Arabian officials if he ever plans to leave the kingdom and he had to promise not to sue the U.S. government over his captivity.
Though Hamdi renounced his U.S. citizenship, it is unclear under these circumstances if the renunciation was "voluntary" as required by the Supreme Court's decisions in Afroyim v. Rusk
Afroyim v. Rusk
Afroyim v. Rusk, 387 U.S. 253 , was a United States Supreme Court decision that set an important legal precedent that a person born or naturalized in the United States cannot be deprived of his or her citizenship involuntarily. The U.S. government had attempted to revoke the citizenship of a man...
and Vance v. Terrazas
Vance v. Terrazas
Vance v. Terrazas, 444 U.S. 252 , was a United States Supreme Court decision that established that a United States citizen cannot have his or her citizenship taken away unless he or she has acted with an intent to give up that citizenship...
, especially since the U.S. presently holds that formal renunciations are only valid if made before a U.S. consular or diplomatic officer outside the U.S. If Hamdi ever tries to reclaim his U.S. citizenship, his renunciation may thus be subject to challenge before a U.S. court.
External links
- Kuwaiti Family Committee is a site with details about the Kuwaiti detainees.
- Findlaw "war on terror" section
- The Supreme Court, the Detainees, and the "War on Terrorism" (Findlaw)
- Hamdi v. Rumsfeld: U.S. Supreme Court Brief Resource Center, U.S. Supreme Court Amici Curiæ Briefs (Jenner and Block Law Firm)
- US Supreme Court decision, Hamdi et al. v. Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, et al. (HTML) (Cornell Law School)
- US Supreme Court decision, Hamdi et al. v. Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, et al.(PDF) (Jenner and Block law firm)
- Hamdi v. Rumsfeld (Duke Law School)
- Requirements for renunciation of U.S. citizenship (U.S. Department of State)