Ali v. Trump

Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Congress passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF). The AUMF empowered the president to use necessary and appropriate force against nations, organizations, or individuals believed to have been involved in the planning or commission of the September 11 attacks. This authorization included detaining of individuals who supported the Taliban, al Qaeda, or associated forces. In March 2002, the United States and Pakistani forces raided a guesthouse in Faisalabad, Pakistan. Living in the guesthouse was al Qaeda facilitator Abu Zubaydah and several of Zubaydah’s compatriots, including former trainers from a terrorist camp in Afghanistan, explosive experts, and a Taliban fighter. Also living in the guesthouse was the Algerian citizen Abdul Razak Ali (defendant). Found in the guesthouse was a device typically used to assemble remote bombs and documents with al Qaeda designations. Ali was captured and transferred to the Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay. Ali filed a habeas corpus petition in the District Court for the District of Columbia challenging his detention and designation as an enemy combatant. The district court determined on the preponderance of the evidence that Ali was a member of Zubaydah’s forces, which the court found was an associated force of al Qaeda and the Taliban under the AUMF. Ali’s petition was denied. In 2018, Ali and several other Guantanamo detainees filed renewed habeas petitions, arguing that their detention violated the Due Process Clause and the AUMF. Ali’s petition was denied once again.