As part of the conflict with Al Qaeda and the Taliban, the United States has captured and detained numerous persons believed to have been part of or associated with enemy forces. Over the years, federal courts have considered a multitude of petitions by or on behalf of suspected belligerents challenging aspects of U.S. detention policy. Although the Supreme Court has issued definitive rulings concerning several legal issues raised in the conflict with Al Qaeda and the Taliban, many others remain unresolved, with some the subject of ongoing litigation.

The 2012 NDAA authorizes the detention of certain categories of persons and requires the military detention of a subset of them; regulates status determinations for persons held pursuant to the AUMF; regulates periodic review proceedings concerning the continued detention of Guantanamo detainees; and continued funding restrictions that relate to Guantanamo detainee transfers to foreign countries (funding restrictions that were subsequently loosened by the 2014 NDAA). The 2012 NDAA continued the bar on the use of Department of Defense (DOD) funds to transfer detainees from Guantanamo into the...