The Department of Justice sent out a press release this afternoon explaining that they’ve done away with ‘enemy combatants’ as a legal term.
In a filing today with the federal District Court for the District of Columbia, the Department of Justice submitted a new standard for the government’s authority to hold detainees at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility. The definition does not rely on the President’s authority as Commander-in-Chief independent of Congress’s specific authorization. It draws on the international laws of war to inform the statutory authority conferred by Congress. It provides that individuals who supported al Qaeda or the Taliban are detainable only if the support was substantial. And it does not employ the phrase “enemy combatant.”
International laws? Of war? Will Glenn Beck’s head explode? Will he feel more surrounded than ever?
