Name of case: Hamdi v. Rumsfeld
Date decided: June 24, 2004
Summary (facts) of case: Hamdi v. Rumsfeld was case brought to the United States which began in April 28, 2004. Hamdi was born in 1980. Originally residing in Louisiana where he was born, making him a United States citizen, he later moved with his family to Saudi Arabia. At the age of twenty Hamdi traveled for his first time to Afghanistan where he was working. Hamdi was later caught by the Afghan group "Northern Alliance" and was handed to the U.S. Hamdi was sent to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba because the United States thought that Yaser Esam Hamdi was part of a terrorist group also viewed as "an enemy combatant". After the U.S government found out that Yaser was actually an American citizen they transferred him to an American prison in Charleston South Carolina where Yaser was kept in solitary confinement where he had no right to attorney even though he was a United States citizen because again he was seen as an "enemy combatant" and he had no right to an attorney. Yaser's father believed other wise. In June 2002 Yaser's father came up with a petition for a "writ of Habeas corpus" that said "Yasers detention violated the Due Process Clauses of the fifth amendment" which meant that the government was not allowed to take away a persons rights without following the law to do it. However the case did manage to go to the supreme court.
Legal Issue/ Legal question: The Legal Issue is Due Process. According to the Habeas "litigation" the questions were can the United States hold American citizens as enemy combatants without charging them with a crime, and without the due process clause? The other question was If a detainee tries to go against his enemy combatant status, what rights does he have to go against it?
Majority Opinion: Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Stephen Breyer,