Page:United States Reports, Volume 542.djvu/495

456

In May 2002, a grand jury convened in the Southern District of New York was conducting an investigation into the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In response to an application by the Department of Justice, the Chief Judge of the District issued a material witness warrant authorizing Padilla's arrest when his plane landed in Chicago on May 8. Pursuant to that warrant, agents of the Department of Justice took Padilla (hereinafter respondent) into custody and transported him to New York City, where he was detained at the Metropolitan Correctional Center. On May 15, the court appointed Donna R. Newman, a member of the New York bar, to represent him. She conferred with respondent in person and ﬁled motions on his behalf, seeking his release on the ground that his incarceration was unauthorized and unconstitutional. The District Court scheduled a hearing on those motions for Tuesday, June 11, 2002.

On Sunday, June 9, 2002, before that hearing could occur, the President issued a written command to the Secretary of Defense concerning respondent. "Based on the information available to [him] from all sources," the President determined that respondent is an "enemy combatant," that he is "closely associated with al Qaeda, an international terrorist organization with which the United States is at war," and that he possesses intelligence that, "if communicated to the U.S., would aid U.S. efforts to prevent attacks by al Qaeda"