Reading Room Document

Determination of Enemy Belligerency and Military Detention

This opinion concludes that Jose Padilla, an American citizen associated with al-Qaeda, should be considered an unlawful enemy combatant and may be turned over to military authorities. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at https://justice.gov/olc/docs/memomilitarydetention06082002.pdf.

June 8, 2002