Also known as: enemy belligerent · belligerent enemy · belligerent enemies · enemy combatant
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Individuals who during wartime associate with the military arm of an enemy government and enter the country without uniforms bent on hostile acts such as sabotage, thereby becoming subject to the laws of war and trial by military commission.
Ethan Evans, a U.S. citizen software engineer, is arrested at a federal technology hub and transferred to a military brig after intelligence alleges he coordinated cyberattacks for a foreign militant group. The executive designates him an enemy belligerent and refuses any forum to contest the classification. A court requires a meaningful opportunity before a neutral decisionmaker to dispute the factual basis for detention.
Ewan Eckhart and five companions land on a U.S. beach in civilian clothes carrying explosives during declared hostilities. They intend to destroy rail lines and munitions plants. Military authorities capture them and convene a presidential commission to try them for violations of the laws of war.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Esther Eisenberg and other German nationals convicted by a U.S. military commission in China for aiding the enemy are held in a German prison after the war. They petition for habeas relief in U.S. courts. The petitions are dismissed because the petitioners never entered U.S. territory and lack constitutional protections.
Emmett Egan, captured in Afghanistan and held at Guantanamo, faces trial before a military commission on conspiracy charges. The commission's procedures deviate from the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Geneva Conventions. A court halts the proceedings because the commission was not properly authorized by Congress.
Eileen Epstein, an attorney representing clients detained as enemy belligerents abroad, sues to enjoin a government surveillance program. She alleges a reasonable likelihood that her communications will be intercepted. The suit is dismissed for lack of standing because the alleged injury is too speculative.
Enemy belligerents enter without uniforms and with intent to commit sabotage or other hostile acts, forfeiting prisoner-of-war protections and becoming triable by military commission for law-of-war violations.
No. A citizen who associates with the enemy military arm and enters the country to commit hostile acts qualifies as an enemy belligerent subject to preventive detention for the duration of hostilities.
Due process requires a meaningful opportunity before a neutral decisionmaker to contest the factual basis for the designation, though procedures may be tailored to military exigencies such as use of hearsay and rebuttable presumptions.
Congress may not categorically bar habeas without providing an adequate substitute that allows the detainee to challenge the legal and factual basis for detention and to seek release.
…order issued on July 7, 2004, decided that Hamdan’s continued detention at Guantanamo Bay was warranted because he was an “enemy combatant.”[^maj-1] Separately, proceedings before the military commission commenced. On November 8, 2004, however, the District Court granted Hamdan’s petition for habeas corpus and stayed the…