Military Detention for U.S. Citizens Home

It's Legal! - Holding U.S. Citizen "Illegal Combatants" in Military Detention Despite the "spew" from Liberals , Libertarians, and even the Fox News Channel, the President absolutely has the legal authority to detain U.S. citizens who "owing allegiance to the United States, levy war against them or adhere to their enemies" - the definition of treason from U.S. Code. We visited this issue back when Johnny Jihad was in the news, and thought you might appreciate the link to our special Q & A on military tribunals. Briefly, the law of war requires enemy soldiers to identify themselves, fight from their own lines, and not attack civilians. Soldiers who go behind enemy lines, without uniforms, and target civilian targets like the U.S. capitol building, are not only "enemy combatants" they are also "illegal combatants" under the law of war. By their actions they forfeit the protections given to Prisoners of War. When these illegal combatants are actually citizens of their target nation, they forfeit the protections their citizenship would normally provide. Some, of course, will form their opinions without regard to logic or the law. But here are the two Supreme Court cases that directly establish the propositions above. Cramer v. United States 325 U.S. 1 (1945) - a U.S. citizen aids Nazi saboteurs Ex Parte Quirin - 317 U.S. 1 (1942) - the Nazi saboteur case itself. One saboteur was a U.S. citizen, but because the law of war with regard to illegal combatants is clear, the court did not even have to consider the man's citizenship.