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Warafi Habeas Ooops

Benjamin Wittes
Friday, September 16, 2011, 11:28 AM
It looks like I missed a habeas decision a few weeks ago. According to a docket entry of which I only became aware this morning, federal district Judge Royce Lamberth has ruled on the remand in the case of Al Warafi v. Obama, denying for the second time the habeas petition of a Yemeni who claimed to be exempt from detention as a medic. Judge Lamberth first denied Makhtar Al-Warafi's habeas petition some time back, but the D.C.

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It looks like I missed a habeas decision a few weeks ago. According to a docket entry of which I only became aware this morning, federal district Judge Royce Lamberth has ruled on the remand in the case of Al Warafi v. Obama, denying for the second time the habeas petition of a Yemeni who claimed to be exempt from detention as a medic. Judge Lamberth first denied Makhtar Al-Warafi's habeas petition some time back, but the D.C. Circuit remanded the case in part for clearer findings concerning whether Al-Warafi in fact qualifies as full-time medical personnel (and would therefore be exempt from detention) or only served "as needed" as a medic (and would therefore be lawfully detained). It appears that Judge Lamberth must have found the latter. The District Court docket entry from earlier this month reads: "The Court filed classified versions of its Memorandum Opinion and accompanying Order granting respondents' Renewed Motion on Remand for Judgment and denying petitioner's petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Unclassified versions will be made available." I will post the unclassified version as soon as it becomes available.

Benjamin Wittes is editor in chief of Lawfare and a Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. He is the author of several books.

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