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Habeas Corpus, Constructive Custody And The Future Of Federal Jurisdiction After Munaf, Karen Shafrir

University of Miami International and Comparative Law Review

In 2004-05, two American Citizens, Shaqir Omar and Mohamed Munaf were separately arrested in Iraq and placed in the Camp Cropper Military Facility, pending adjudication. Both prisoners filed writs of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The primary issue that the lower courts grappled with was whether or not the courts had jurisdiction to hear the petitions. After various appeals, the United States Supreme Court concluded that the federal courts did have jurisdiction to entertain the habeas petitions but that the petitions would fail on the merits. This paper argues that the standard …