Salahi v. Obama (D.C. Cir. Nov. 5, 2010) (vacating GTMO habeas grant)

* Salahi v. Obama (D.C. Cir. Nov. 5, 2010) (vacating prior grant of habeas to GTMO detainee)

This morning a DC Circuit panel vacated a decision by Judge Robertson granting habeas to Mohammedou Salahi. A link to the opinion, and commentary, are posted here.

One point especially worth noting: this individual was captured in Mauritania, and though he’d been in Afghanistan in the early 1990s he had not been there since. The case thus presents an example of an AUMF-based detention without a direct link to combat operations involving the U.S. presence in Afghanistan. The panel says nothing specific about this issue, to be sure. But, by making clear that detention may turn out on remand to be appropriate in Salahi’s case, the decision seems to implicitly endorse a geographically-flexible reading of detention authority under the AUMF.

By Robert M. Chesney

Robert M. Chesney is Charles I. Francis Professor in Law at UT-Austin School of Law. Chesney is a national security law specialist, with a particular interest in problems associated with terrorism. Professor Chesney recently served in the Justice Department in connection with the Detainee Policy Task Force created by Executive Order 13493. He is a member of the Advisory Committee of the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Law and National Security, a senior editor for the Journal of National Security Law & Policy, an associate member of the Intelligence Science Board, a non-resident senior fellow of the Brookings Institution, a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a member of the American Law Institute. Professor Chesney has published extensively on topics ranging from detention and prosecution in the counterterrorism context to the states secrets privilege. He served previously as chair of the Section on National Security Law of the Association of American Law Schools and as editor of the National Security Law Report (published by the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Law and National Security). His upcoming projects include two books under contract with Oxford University Press, one concerning the evolution of detention law and policy and the other examining the judicial role in national security affairs.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *