Al-Alwi v. Trump

Statement of Justice BREYER respecting the denial of certiorari.

In the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Congress passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), 115 Stat. 224 . The AUMF states that the President may "use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided" those attacks. § 2(a), ibid . In Hamdi v. Rumsfeld , 542 U.S. 507 , 124 S.Ct. 2633 , 159 L.Ed.2d 578 (2004), a majority *1894 of this Court understood the AUMF to permit the President to detain…