Also known as: combatants · unlawful combatant
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A person who participates directly in hostilities. Lawful combatants are members of armed forces or uniformed militias under military command and subject to the laws of war. Enemy combatants captured during open warfare may be detained without charge for the duration of hostilities.
Caitlin Crowley, a foreign national captured abroad, was held at a U.S. facility as an enemy combatant. She petitioned for habeas relief after a military commission proceeding. The court permitted her to contest the factual basis for detention and introduce newly discovered exculpatory evidence because the statutory substitute failed to provide a meaningful opportunity for release.
Charles Cunningham, a U.S. citizen seized inside the United States, was designated an enemy combatant and held at a military brig. He received a hearing before a neutral military tribunal that allowed hearsay and a rebuttable presumption favoring the government. The tribunal still afforded him a meaningful chance to contest the factual basis for his classification.
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Colin Chambers, a German operative who landed on U.S. shores without uniform to conduct sabotage, was captured and tried by military commission. The tribunal classified him as an unlawful combatant subject to trial and punishment under the law of war rather than as a prisoner of war entitled to different treatment.
Caleb Chang, a union member participating in a strike, was labeled a combatant in the labor conflict by management seeking an injunction. The court refused to treat the union activity as equivalent to wartime hostilities that would justify treating participants as enemy combatants subject to military-style detention.
Camila Cervantes, a civilian whose property was seized during the Civil War, argued that she had never acted as a combatant. The Court held that private property of noncombatant enemies could not be condemned without due legal proceedings, distinguishing her from those directly engaged in hostilities.
Cynthia Cortez, a foreign national captured and held at Guantanamo, faced trial by a military commission created by executive order. The commission lacked authority because it failed to comply with statutory requirements governing the trial of combatants under the laws of war.
A U.S. citizen held as an enemy combatant inside the United States is entitled under the Due Process Clause to a meaningful opportunity to contest before a neutral decisionmaker the factual basis for detention. Procedures may be tailored to military exigencies, including use of hearsay and rebuttable presumptions, but the government cannot deny all opportunity to refute the allegations.
Supporting sources
Congress may not categorically deny habeas corpus review to aliens detained as enemy combatants without a meaningful substitute. Any substitute must permit the detainee to challenge the legal authority for detention, contest fact-finding, introduce post-proceeding exculpatory evidence, and seek release if detention is unlawful.
Supporting sources
Lawful combatants are members of armed forces or uniformed militias under military command and are subject to capture and detention as prisoners of war. Unlawful combatants are also subject to capture and detention but may additionally be tried and punished by military tribunals for acts that render their belligerency unlawful.
Supporting sources
…government recognized to the fullest extent the humane maxims of the modern law of nations, which exempt private property of non-combatant enemies from capture as booty of war. Even the law of confiscation was sparingly applied. The cases were few indeed in which the property of any not engaged in actual hostilities was…