12-3176
(L)Hedges v. Obama
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALSF
OR THE
S
ECOND
C
IRCUIT
-----August Term, 2012(Argued: February 6, 2013Decided: July 17, 2013)Docket Nos. 12-3176 (Lead), 12-3644 (Con)-----C
HRISTOPHER
H
EDGES
,
D
ANIEL
E
LLSBERG
,
J
ENNIFER
B
OLEN
,
N
OAM
C
HOMSKY
,
A
LEXA
O’B
RIEN
,
US
D
AY OF
R
AGE
,
K
AI
W
ARGALLA
,
H
ON
.
B
IRGITTA
J
ONSDOTTIR
M.P.,
Plaintiffs-Appellees
,v.B
ARACK
O
BAMA
, individually and as a representative of the U
NITED
S
TATES OF
A
MERICA
, L
EON
P
ANETTA
, individually and as a representative of the
D
EPARTMENT OF
D
EFENSE
,
Defendants-Appellants
,J
OHN
M
C
C
AIN
,
J
OHN
B
OEHNER
,
H
ARRY
R
EID
,
N
ANCY
P
ELOSI
,
M
ITCH
M
C
C
ONNELL
,
E
RIC
C
ANTOR
,
as representatives of the U
NITED
S
TATES OF
A
MERICA
,
Defendants
.
*
-----
B e f o r e :K
EARSE
and
L
OHIER
,
Circuit
Judges
,
and K
APLAN
,
District Judge
.
***
The Clerk of the Court is directed to amend the official caption as shown above.
**
The Honorable Lewis A. Kaplan, United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York, sitting by designation.
Defendants-appellants seek review of a district court decision permanently enjoiningenforcement of Section 1021(b)(2) of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act on the ground that it violates the First and Fifth Amendments. We conclude that Section 1021 has no bearing onthe government’s authority to detain the American citizen plaintiffs and that those plaintiffstherefore lack Article III standing. Moreover, the non-citizen plaintiffs have failed to establish asufficient basis to fear detention under the statute to give them standing to seek preenforcementreview. V
ACATED AND
R
EMANDED
.R
OBERT
M.
L
OEB
,
Appellate Staff Civil Division, Department of Justice,Washington, DC
(Stuart F. Delery, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Washington,DC; Beth S. Brinkmann, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Washington, DC;August E. Flentje, Civil Division, Department of Justice, Washington, DC; JehCharles Johnson, General Counsel, Department of Defense, Washington, DC; PreetBharara, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, New York, NY; Benjamin H. Torrance, Christopher B. Harwood, Assistant United StatesAttorneys, New York, NY,
on the brief
)
Attorneys for Defendants-Appellants
C
ARL
J.
M
AYER
,
Mayer Law Group LLC, New York, NY; B
RUCE
I.
A
FRAN
,
E
SQ
., Princeton, NJ
Attorneys for Plaintiffs-Appellees
D
AVID
B.
R
IVKIN
,
J
R
. (Lee A. Casey, Andrew M. Grossman,
on the brief
),BakerHostetler LLP, Washington, DC
Attorneys for Amici Curiae
Senators John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and Kelly Ayotte
Kent A. Yalowitz, Arnold & Porter LLP, New York, NY; L. Charles Landgraf,Arpan A. Sura, Arnold & Porter LLP, Washington, DC
Attorneys for Amicus Curiae Bill of Rights Defense Committee
Matthew J. MacLean, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, Washington, DC
Attorney for Amici Curiae Center for National Security Studies and The ConstitutionProject
Reem Salahi, Hadsell Stormer Richardson & Renick, LLP, Pasadena, CA
Attorney for Amicus Curiae Government Accountability Project
3Eric K. Yamamoto, University of Hawaii School of Law, Honolulu, HI; Lorraine K.Bannai, Anjana Malhotra, Seattle University School of Law, Seattle, WA
Attorneys for Amici Curiae Karen and Ken Korematsu, et al.
John W. Whitehead, Douglas R. McKusick, Lina M. Ragep, The Rutherford Institute, Charlottesville, VA; Anand Agneshwar, Arnold & Porter LLP, New York, NY
Attorneys for Amicus Curiae The Rutherford Institute
William J. Olson, Herbert W. Titus, John S. Miles, Jeremiah L. Morgan, Robert J.Olson, William J. Olson, P.C., Vienna, VA; Steven J. Harfenist, Friedman HarfenistKraut & Perlstein LLP, Lake Success, NY; Gary G. Kreep, U.S. Justice Foundation,Ramona, CA
Attorneys for Amici Curiae U.S. Congressman Steve Stockman, et al.
L
EWIS
A.
K
APLAN
,
District Judge.
On September 11, 2001, the al-Qaeda terrorist network attacked multiple targets inthe United States with hijacked commercial airliners, killing approximately 3,000 people. A week later, Congress enacted the Authorization for Use of Military Force (the “AUMF”),
1
whichempowered President Bush to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations,organizations, and persons responsible for the attacks and those who harbored such organizationsor persons. Nearly twelve years later, the hostilities continue. Presidents Bush and Obama haveasserted the right to place certain individuals in military detention, without trial, in furtherance of their authorized use of force. Substantial litigation has ensued over the scope of presidential militarydetention authority—that is, whom did Congress authorize the President to detain when it passed the AUMF?
1
P.L. 107-40, 115 Stat. 224 (2001),
codified at
50 U.S.C. § 1541 note.