Surely You Didn't Mean "No" Jurisdiction: Why the Supreme Court's Selective Hearing in Hamdan Is Good for Democracy

Melissa Patterson

Melissa Patterson’s essay situates the Supreme Court’s analysis of the jurisdiction stripping provision at issue in Hamdan in a larger context.

Update: The D.C. Circuit has now weighed in on the jurisdiction-stripping provisions in the Military Commissions Act of 2006. In Boumediene v. Bush, No. 05-5062, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 3682 (D.C. Cir. 2007), the court unanimously concluded that Congress surely did mean "no" jurisdiction this time around. The majority characterized the MCA's language thusly: "It is almost as if the proponents of these words were slamming their fists on the table shouting 'When we say 'all,' we mean all – without exception!'"