Government Professor Robert Martin was the featured guest at a Hamilton Think Tank in November where he discussed "Presidents and Enemy Combatants: 1798 and 2001."
Martin began by discussing the "historical precedents for our current problems" regarding presidential powers and enemy combatants. He described the quasi-war between the United States and France in 1798. During this war, "enemies" of the United States could be arrested and detained without judicial review. "Clearly, as we are seeing this now, this is not a new idea," Martin explained.
Other historical pieces of legislation included the Alien Act, which empowered the President and applied to non-citizens. Although the Alien act expired in 1800, we continue to see many similarities today between Bush's legislation today. Other cases that Martin discussed at great length included the Merriman case, Ex Parte Milligan case, and the case of the German saboteurs during WWII. Although the cases were quite different, each case brought questions concerning presidential power, habeas corpus, military tribunals, and unlawful combatants.
Today, there are two major cases regarding these same ideas: the cases of Yasser Hamdi and Jose Pedia. Martin discussed the various opinions within the U.S. Supreme Court on the cases, and discribed where each of the nine justices stand. Justice O'Connor, Martin explained, stated that the presidential war powers are not a blank check; detention can be authorized, but there needs to be due process. Not all justices agree with O'Connor and this conflict will take time to work itself out, Martin predicted.
He said the Supreme Court is trying to "address how balance [between presidential powers and due process] would be struck." However, Martin explained, this lack of balance leads to some interesting questions concerning precedent and war today, and one of the major issues is whether "enemy combatants" are captured on US soil or abroad.
Martin then opened the Think Tank up for discussion, questions and comments; the audience discussed a number of issues, including the War on Terror, the Patriot Act, environmental terror, and the Iraqi Congressional resolution.
Think Tanks are weekly discussions organized by two students each year, and sponsored by the Arthur Levitt Public Affairs Center. The topics range widely, but often include an informal discussion led by a Hamilton College faculty member.
-- by Emily Lemanczyk '05
