Salim Hamdan v. United States

I join the decision of the Court but, with respect to its holding Mr. Hamdan’s appeal of his criminal conviction by military commission is not moot, I do so only because precedent so dictates. I write separately to explain the unfortunate state of that precedent, which requires us to review the conviction of a man long since transferred to Yemen who, even if his conviction were overturned and he were to hear of it, would not be affected in any way by the result. Because today’s decision has no actual consequence for Mr. Hamdan, his case is moot in fact, though, curiously, not in law.

The…