## Facts

- Abdul Razak Ali, an Algerian national, has been detained at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay since June 2002.
- Ali was captured in March 2002 during a raid on a guesthouse in Faisalabad, Pakistan linked to Abu Zubaydah, described by the government as an al Qaeda facilitator.
- The government alleged the guesthouse contained items and documents consistent with al Qaeda activity.
- The government further alleged Ali was part of Zubaydah’s force, which it characterized as an “associated force” of al Qaeda and the Taliban within the scope of the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF).
- In earlier habeas proceedings, the district court denied relief, finding by a preponderance of the evidence that Ali was a member of Zubaydah’s forces and that detention was authorized under the AUMF.
- In 2018, Ali filed a renewed habeas petition contending that continued, effectively indefinite detention violated the Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause and exceeded AUMF authority.
- The district court denied the renewed petition, concluding Guantánamo detainees were not entitled to the due process protections Ali sought and that the AUMF continued to authorize detention given ongoing hostilities.
- Ali appealed to the D.C. Circuit.

## Issues

1. Whether the Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause categorically applies “in full” to detainees held at Guantánamo Bay, such that Ali’s continued detention violates procedural and substantive due process.
2. Whether Ali’s continued detention, after many years, remains authorized under the AUMF for the duration of hostilities against al Qaeda, the Taliban, and associated forces.

## Decision

- The D.C. Circuit affirmed the denial of habeas relief.
- The court held Ali’s categorical claim that the Due Process Clause applies “in full” at Guantánamo was foreclosed by binding circuit precedent.
- The court noted that questions about whether particular aspects of due process or additional Suspension Clause procedures apply may remain open, but Ali did not present narrower, as-applied arguments.
- The court upheld the legality of continued detention under the AUMF, as interpreted by circuit precedent to permit detention of individuals who are part of or tied to associated forces for the duration of ongoing hostilities.

## Legal Principles

- A court of appeals panel must follow binding circuit precedent that rejects a categorical extension of the full Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause to noncitizen detainees held at Guantánamo Bay.
- General, facial constitutional challenges to Guantánamo detention may fail where precedent forecloses them; litigants must develop specific, as-applied theories to test any remaining open questions about particular procedural protections.
- Under D.C. Circuit interpretations, the AUMF authorizes law-of-war detention of persons who are part of, or sufficiently connected to, al Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces, for the duration of hostilities deemed ongoing by the political branches and recognized in prior precedent.
- Executive-branch review mechanisms (including periodic administrative reassessment of threat and detention necessity) may provide context but do not, by themselves, resolve constitutional entitlement questions.

## Conclusion

The D.C. Circuit upheld Ali’s continued Guantánamo detention, ruling that binding circuit precedent bars a broad claim that the Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause fully applies there and that, under existing AUMF detention doctrine, law-of-war detention may continue for the duration of ongoing hostilities.


Ali v. Trump, 959 F.3d 364 (D.C. Cir. 2020)