Rumsfeld. 542 U.S. 507 (2004). that he believes establishes that alien combatants are entitled to habeas rights if they are held within the United States. That statement. towards the beginning of section III.A of the courts opinion. is a part of a statement of general principles noting that "[a]ll agree- that. absent suspension. habeas corpus remains available to every "individual" within the United States. Senator SPECTER reads this statement. unadorned by any qualification as to whether the individual in question is a U.S. citizen. an illegal immigrant. or an alien enemy combatant. to stand for the proposition that even the latter has a constitutional right to habeas corpus when held within the United States. I would suggest that this single. ambiguous statement cannot be construed to bear that much weight. for three reasons. Elsewhere in its opinion. the Hamdi plurality repeatedly makes clear that the only issue it is actually considering is whether a U.S. citizen has habeas and due process rights as an enemy combatant.
Keywords matched
illegal immigrant