Legal Commentary

The Last "Unlawful Combatant?"

By Big Tent Democrat

The Obama Administration will charge Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri with criminal terrorism charges. The NYTimes claims Al-Marri is "the only enemy combatant to be held on American soil." On Rachel Maddow's show, the invaluable Jane Mayer seemed to contradict this claim, but perhaps she is referring to persons held overseas, such as in the American base at Bagram, Afghanistan.

Mayer made an another important point - the theory upheld by the Fourth Circuit, that a President can unilaterally declare a person an unlawful combatant and thus hold them indefinitely will remain untested.

It seems unlikely that President Obama will attempt to exercise such raw power, but the theory remains. What would be better would be if the Obama Administration expressly renounced the Bush Administration position on this issue.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on February 26, 2009 (boomark / email).