Lower Court Holding
Decision of the District of Columbia U.S. Court of Appeals
Do Federal courts havejurisdiction over petitions for writs of habeascorpus filed by aliens captured abroad and detained as enemy combatants atthe Guantánamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba? The question has been the recurringsubject of legislation and litigation. In these consolidated appeals, foreignnationals held at Guántanamo filed petitions for writs of habeas corpus alleging violations of the Constitution, treaties,statutes, regulations, the common law, and the law of nations. The first question is whether the Military Commissions Actof 2006 (MCA) applies to the detainees’ habeaspetitions. If the MCA does apply, the second question is whether the statute isan unconstitutional suspension of…
