The Enemy Combatant Papers

The Enemy Combatant Papers compiles and analyzes key legal documents from post-9/11 U.S. detention cases, with a focus on enemy combatant designations and military tribunals. The collection includes government briefs, court decisions, and legal arguments that shaped policies at Guantanamo Bay and other detention facilities. Editors Karen Greenberg and Joshua Dratel present primary source materials chronologically, tracking how enemy combatant status evolved through landmark cases like Hamdi v. Rumsfeld and Rasul v. Bush. Each document is accompanied by contextual notes and commentary explaining its significance in the development of detention policies. These papers trace fundamental questions about executive power, due process, and constitutional rights during the War on Terror. Through official records and legal proceedings, the book examines how the U.S. government created and justified new categories of detention outside traditional prisoner of war protocols. The collection serves as both a historical record and an exploration of how nations balance security imperatives with legal principles during times of conflict. The documents reveal ongoing tensions between established civil liberties and expanded executive authority in response to terrorist threats.

Limited reader reviews exist for this legal reference work. The few available reviews come from academic journals and law publications rather than general readers. Readers found value in: - Comprehensive collection of legal documents from enemy combatant cases - Clear organization and indexing of complex court filings - Inclusion of previously hard-to-access government briefs - Helpful introductions providing context for each document Main criticisms: - Very dense and technical legal language - High price point limits accessibility - Some readers wanted more editorial analysis Available Ratings: Goodreads: No ratings Amazon: No customer reviews WorldCat: 118 libraries hold copies Law professor David Cole wrote in the New York Review of Books that the collection "provides an invaluable resource for understanding how the courts grappled with unprecedented legal questions after 9/11." The book remains primarily used as a reference text in law schools and by legal researchers rather than general readers.

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🔷 The book compiles over 100 original documents related to enemy combatant cases post-9/11, including previously classified materials, court transcripts, and legal briefs. 🔷 Karen Greenberg, one of the authors, is the founding director of the Center on National Security at Fordham Law School and has written extensively about Guantanamo Bay detention camp. 🔷 The term "enemy combatant" was rarely used in U.S. law before 2001, but became a crucial legal designation after 9/11 to detain suspected terrorists without traditional constitutional protections. 🔷 Joshua Dratel, co-author, served as lead defense counsel in several high-profile terrorism cases, including representing David Hicks, the first Guantanamo detainee to be convicted by military commission. 🔷 The documents in this collection reveal how the U.S. government created an entirely new legal framework for handling terrorist suspects, fundamentally changing aspects of American jurisprudence that had existed for over 200 years.