By Tom Jackman Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, January 9, 2003; Page A01
The government can jail a U.S. citizen captured overseas indefinitely when the military declares him an "enemy combatant," a federal appeals court said yesterday, ruling that a Louisiana-born man has been held properly in a Navy brig without a lawyer or other constitutional rights.
The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in the case of Yaser Esam Hamdi, who was captured with Taliban forces in Afghanistan, rejected the Justice Department's argument that enemy combatants have no right to a judicial review of their detention and status. But because the Constitution affords the executive branch the responsibility to wage war, the courts must yield to the military in making such determinations, the three-judge panel said.
"Separation of powers takes on special significance when the nation itself comes under attack," the appeals court ruled. "Judicial review does not disappear during wartime, but the review of battlefield captures in overseas conflicts is a highly deferential one."
The ruling was not an overwhelming victory for the government....
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30337-2003Jan8.html> -- Yoshie
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