Suspension Clause - extraterritorial reach of habeas corpus - jurisdiction to review military detention of non-citizens held at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan

摘要

Does the constitutional writ of habeas corpus extend to Afghanistan? In Al Maqaleh v. Gates, a unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit held that a federal district court had no jurisdiction to consider habeas petitions from noncitizens detained at Bagram Air Base. Al Maqaleh is the latest in a series of cases involving the constitutional rights of aliens held abroad by the U.S. military, and flows directly from the landmark 2008 case of Boumediene v. Bush. In that decision, the Supreme Court for the first time declared that noncitizens captured and detained outside U.S. territory could bring a habeas claim before a federal court. Al Maqaleh addressed whether the logic of Boumediene extends not only to the highly unusual naval base at Guantanamo, but to Bagram as well.