Opening and Response Briefs Available for Suleiman v. Obama
Published by The Lawfare Institute
in Cooperation With
The appellant's brief and government's brief are now available for Suleiman v. Obama, one of the Guantanamo habeas cases currently before the D.C. Circuit Court. Petitioner Abdulrahman Suleiman challenges Judge Reggie Walton’s July 2010 decision denying him the writ of habeas corpus. Judge Walton found that the government’s evidence had established that Suleiman was a “part of” Al Qaeda and Taliban forces.
In his appeal, the petitioner argues that basic constitutional principles were violated by the district court’s ruling, and that the “part of” standard conflicts with two Supreme Court rulings. He also argues that Judge Walton erred by basing his ruling upon “negative inferences and unwarranted speculation.”
There are four questions before the court:
1. Is Suleiman entitled to rights under the Ex Post Facto Clause of the United States Constitution? If so, did the District Court Judge violate those rights by holding that he may be imprisoned under the AUMF for conduct that pre-dated the effective date of the AUMF? 2. Is Suleiman entitled to rights under the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution? If so, did the District Court Judge violate those rights by denying Suleiman's petition for writ of habeas corpus on the basis of a standard.-the "part of' the Taliban standard adopted by this Court in Al Bihani -that is void for vagueness? 3. Did the United States Supreme Court rule in Hamdi and Boumediene that in order to hold prisoners under the AUMF, the government must prove that the prisoners were both a part of the Taliban and were engaged actively in hostilities against the United States or its allies; and did this Court and the District Court err in failing to follow those rulings? 4. Did the District Court Judge err in finding by a preponderance of the evidence that the government proved that Suleiman was a part of the Taliban?Oral arguments have not yet been scheduled.
Raffaela Wakeman is a Senior Director at In-Q-Tel. She started her career at the Brookings Institution, where she spent five years conducting research on national security, election reform, and Congress. During this time she was also the Associate Editor of Lawfare. From there, Raffaela practiced law at the U.S. Department of Defense for four years, advising her clients on privacy and surveillance law, cybersecurity, and foreign liaison relationships. She departed DoD in 2019 to join the Majority Staff of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, where she oversaw the Intelligence Community’s science and technology portfolios, cybersecurity, and surveillance activities. She left HPSCI in May 2021 to join IQT.
Raffaela received her BS and MS in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2009 and her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 2015, where she was recognized for her commitment to public service with the Joyce Chiang Memorial Award. While at the Department of Defense, she was the inaugural recipient of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s General Counsel Award for exhibiting the highest standards of leadership, professional conduct, and integrity.
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