Rumsfeld v. Hamdi

DIANA GRIBBON MOTZ,

Circuit Judge, dissenting from denial of rehearing en banc:

For more than a year, a United States citizen, Yaser Esam Hamdi, has been labeled an enemy combatant and held in solitary confinement in a Norfolk, Virginia naval brig. He has not been charged with a crime, let alone convicted of one. The Executive will not state when, if ever, he will be released. Nor has the Executive allowed Hamdi to appear in court, consult with counsel, or communicate in any way with the outside world.

Precedent dictates that we must tolerate some abrogation of constitutional rights if Hamdi is,…