On November 13, 2001 U.S. President George W. Bush issued a Military Order titled Detention, Treatment, and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in the War Against Terrorism.Presidential Military Order: Detention, Treatment, and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in the War Against Terrorism
''

The White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 180 ...

'', November 13, 2001 The order: #Defines which individuals the President considers subject to the order. #States that the U.S. Secretary of Defense will be ultimately responsible for the individuals. #Outlines the conditions under which the Secretary of Defense should detain the individuals. #Specifies that those individuals who were to be tried would be tried before

military commissions Military justice (also military law) is the legal system (bodies of law and procedure) that governs the conduct of the active-duty personnel of the armed forces of a country. In some nation-states, civil law and military law are distinct bodi ...

, and sets out some broad guidelines for how those military commissions should be conducted. #Orders other agencies to assist the Secretary of Defense. #Grants the Secretary of Defense additional powers. #Specifies the relationship of the order to other laws and forums. #States that the order will be published in the

Federal Register The ''Federal Register'' (FR or sometimes Fed. Reg.) is the official journal of the federal government of the United States that contains government agency rules, proposed rules, and public notices. It is published every weekday, except on fede ...

Background and controversy

In the aftermath of the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

, the Bush administration sought "a tough-minded alternative to the civilian court system" for dealing with terrorists. President Bush asserted that the U.S. Constitution and a congressional resolution passed after the attack empowered him to promulgate the order as president. The order provided the authority for the Secretary of Defense to detain members of

Al Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...

Guantanamo Bay detention camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp ( es, Centro de detención de la bahía de Guantánamo) is a United States military prison located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, also referred to as Guantánamo, GTMO, and Gitmo (), on the coast of Gua ...

. Critics pointed out that, as of March 2006, none of the cases for the 10 terrorists designated for trial under the order had been concluded. They also argued that the suspects were tried for crimes defined by the President, using procedures "lacking basic protections", by judges who were subordinates of the President. Ultimately the commissions were modified to require that trials be public and defendants be assumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. However critics continued to argue that the

Geneva Convention upright=1.15, Original document in single pages, 1864 The Geneva Conventions are four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war. The singular term ''Geneva Conve ...

required the detainees to be tried in federal court with habeas corpus. The Bush administration countered that Al Qaeda is a terrorist network that has not signed the Geneva Convention and does not abide by it.

Judicial branch ruled the commissions unconstitutional

US District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

Justice James Robertson ruled, in ''

Hamdan v. Rumsfeld ''Hamdan v. Rumsfeld'', 548 U.S. 557 (2006), is a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that military commissions set up by the Bush administration to try detainees at Guantanamo Bay violated both the Uniform Code of Mili ...

'', that the military commissions were unconstitutional. A three-judge appeals panel overturned Robertson's ruling. President Bush appointed

John Roberts John Glover Roberts Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is an American lawyer and jurist who has served as the 17th chief justice of the United States since 2005. Roberts has authored the majority opinion in several landmark cases, including '' Nat ...

, one of the judges on that panel, to the vacant post of Chief Justice of the United States on the next business day. Justice

had to recuse himself when the appeal appeared before the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

. On June 29, 2006, the Supreme Court upheld Robertson's initial ruling 5–3. That ruling was later superseded by the

Military Commissions Act of 2006 The Military Commissions Act of 2006, also known as HR-6166, was an Act of Congress signed by President George W. Bush on October 17, 2006. The Act's stated purpose was "to authorize trial by military commission for violations of the law of ...

March 13 standard

Charlie Savage points to a more legalized understanding of which individuals could be detained under the Authorization for Use of Military Force under the Obama Administration. He states that the standard became known as the "March 13 standard." It is in reference to a memorandum regarding the United States Government's detention of detainees held at

. The standard put forth in the memo for determining whether an individual could be detained (outside of those individuals directly tied into the

) is if the person: * Was part of or ** the Taliban or ** al-Qaida forces or ** associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners, including any person who has committed a belligerent act, or has directly supported hostilities, in aid of such enemy armed forces; or * Substantially supported ** the Taliban or ** al-Qaida forces or ** associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners, including any person who has committed a belligerent act, or has directly supported hostilities, in aid of such enemy armed forces.Brief for Respondent at 2, ''In re Guantanamo Bay Detainee Litigation'', Misc. No. 08-442 at *2 (D. D.C. 2008) at https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1369994-march-13-2009-detention-definition.html.

References

Guantanamo Bay captives legal and administrative procedures