On the recordDecember 1, 2011
Yes. One of the questions is this interplay between the executive and the legislative branch. When the legislative branch, as Congress has done here through the authorization of military force, has provided the legal basis for the administration to hold a person engaged in war against us, then it cannot be denied that that authority exists. There is a 1971 law that Congress passed that said you could hold people only pursuant to law. This was the precise holding of the Hamdi case, where the U.S. Supreme Court said they had the authority because of the authorization of military force. So the executive has that authority, the legislature has provided the basis for the authority, and the Supreme Court has upheld it by its ultimate jurisdiction.
