Federal appeals court to reconsider case of ‘enemy combatant’ held in US News
Federal appeals court to reconsider case of ‘enemy combatant’ held in US

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on Wednesday agreed to reconsider [order, PDF] its June ruling [PDF text; JURIST report] that the military cannot seize and imprison civilians lawfully residing in the United States and detain them as "enemy combatants" [JURIST news archive]. In June, the court rejected government arguments that the president was authorized to order the military seizure of Illinois resident and Qatari native Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri [Brennan Center case materials] from civilian custody and hold him indefinitely in a military jail without charge. The Department of Justice subsequently asked the court to re-hear al-Marri's case en banc [petition, PDF; JURIST report].

The DOJ had argued that the federal courts lacked jurisdiction [JURIST report] over al-Marri's claims under the Military Commissions Act of 2006 [PDF text; JURIST news archive], but the Court rejected that argument. AP has more. SCOTUSblog has additional coverage.

THIS DAY @ LAW

UN General Assembly approves Palestine partition plan

The UN General Assembly approved UN Resolution Resolution 181 (II) on November 29, 1947, recommending that the British Mandate for Palestine be split into a Jewish state, an Arab state, and an international zone for Jerusalem. The vote in the assembly was 33 for to 13 against, with 10 abstentions. The resolution sparked a war between Palestinian Arabs and Jews in 1947 and a wider war after Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon invaded the new State of Israel in 1948. Read Resolution 181 (II).

UN divided Palestine between Arabs and Jews

On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly voted to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab territories, leading to the establishment of a Jewish state the following year. Read UN General Assembly Resolution 181.

Defense Secretary Robert McNamara resigns during Vietnam Conflict

On November 29, 1967, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara announced that he was resigning from his office to accept an appointment as head of the World Bank. The announcement came as the Vietnam Conflict was becoming increasingly unpopular in the United States and abroad.