Source: https://biotech.law.lsu.edu/cases/nat-sec/padilla.htm
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 06:18:29+00:00

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Jennifer S. Martinez argued the cause for respondents. With her on the brief were Donna R. Newman, Andrew G. Patel, Jonathan M. Freiman, David W. DeBruin, William M. Hohengarten, and Matthew Hersh.
 Briefs of amici curiae urging reversal were filed for the Commonwealth of Virginia by Jerry W. Kilgore, Attorney General of Virginia, William H. Hurd, State Solicitor, Maureen Riley Matsen and William E. Thro, Deputy State Solicitors, Alison P. Landry, Senior Assistant Attorney General, and Courtney M. Malveaux and Russell E. McGuire, Assistant Attorneys General; for the American Center for Law & Justice by Jay Alan Sekulow, Thomas P. Monaghan, Stuart J. Roth, Colby M. May, James M. Henderson, Sr., Joel H. Thornton, and Robert W. Ash; for the Cato Institute by Timothy Lynch; for the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation by Kent S. Scheidegger; and for the Washington Legal Foundation et al. by Daniel J. Popeo and Richard A. Samp.
 Briefs of amici curiae urging affirmance were filed for the American Civil Liberties Union et al. by Steven R. Shapiro, Sharon M. McGowan, Lucas Guttentag, Robin L. Goldfaden, Arthur N. Eisenberg, Arthur H. Bryant, and Rebecca E. Epstein; for the Association of the Bar of the City of New York et al. by Joseph Gerard Davis; for the Beverly Hills Bar Association et al. by Bridget Arimond, Stephen F. Rohde, and Marc J. Poster; for the Center for National Security Studies et al. by John Payton, Seth P. Waxman, Paul R. Q. Wolfson, Kate Martin, and Joseph Onek; for Global Rights by James F. Fitzpatrick, Kathleen A. Behan, and Gay J. McDougall; for Others Are Us et al. by Jonathan D. Wallace; for the Rutherford Institute et al. by Carter G. Phillips, Mark E. Haddad, Joseph R. Guerra, and Elliot M. Mincberg; for the Spartacist League et al. by Rachel H. Wolkenstein; for Bruce A. Ackerman et al. by Jules Lobel, Barbara Olshansky, Nancy Chang, and Shayana Kadidal; for Susan Akram et al. by Daniel Kanstroom; for Philip Alston et al. by David N. Rosen, Homer E. Moyer, Jr., and Michael T. Brady; for the Honorable John Conyers, Jr., et al. by Brian S. Koukoutchos; for Samuel R. Gross et al. by Jonathan L. Hafetz, Lawrence S. Lustberg, and Michael J. Wishnie; for Louis Henkin et al. by Donald Francis Donovan, Carl Micarelli, and J. Paul Oetken; for Fred Korematsu et al. by Arturo J. Gonz lez and Jon B. Streeter; and for Janet Reno et al. by Robert S. Litt and Theodore D. Frank.
 Briefs of amici curiae were filed for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers et al. by Donald G. Rehkopf, Jr., and Lisa B. Kemler; for the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia by Catharine F. Easterly, Giovanna Shay, and Timothy P. O'Toole; for William J. Aceves et al. by Linda A. Malone and Jordan J. Paust; for Payam Akhavan et al. by Allison Marston Danner; for the Honorable Shirley M. Hufstedler et al. by Robert P. LoBue; and for David J. Scheffer et al. by Mr. Scheffer, pro se.
 A brief of amici curiae urging affirmance in No. 03-6696 and reversal in No. 03-1027 was filed for Senator John Cornyn et al. by Senator Cornyn, pro se.
 Padilla's motion was still pending when, on June 9, the President issued an order to Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld designating Padilla an "enemy combatant" and directing the Secretary to detain him in military custody. App. D to Brief for Petitioner 5a (June 9 Order). In support of this action, the President invoked his authority as "Commander in Chief of the U. S. armed forces" and the Authorization for Use of Military Force Joint Resolution, Pub. L. 107-40, 115 Stat. 224 (AUMF),*fn1 enacted by Congress on September 18, 2001. June 9 Order 5a. The President also made several factual findings explaining his decision to designate Padilla an enemy combatant.*fn2 Based on these findings, the President concluded that it is "consistent with U. S. law and the laws of war for the Secretary of Defense to detain Mr. Padilla as an enemy combatant." Id., at 6a.
 That same day, Padilla was taken into custody by Department of Defense officials and transported to the Consolidated Naval Brig in Charleston, South Carolina.*fn3 He has been held there ever since.
 Reaching the merits, the Court of Appeals held that the President lacks authority to detain Padilla militarily. Id., at 710-724. The court concluded that neither the President's Commander-in-Chief power nor the AUMF authorizes military detentions of American citizens captured on American soil. Id., at 712-718, 722-723. To the contrary, the Court of Appeals found in both our case law and in the Non-Detention Act, 18 U. S. C. §4001(a),*fn6 a strong presumption against domestic military detention of citizens absent explicit congressional authorization. 352 F. 3d, at 710-722. Accordingly, the court granted the writ of habeas corpus and directed the Secretary to release Padilla from military custody within 30 days. Id., at 724.
 The federal habeas statute straightforwardly provides that the proper respondent to a habeas petition is "the person who has custody over [the petitioner]." 28 U. S. C. §2242; see also §2243 ("The writ, or order to show cause shall be directed to the person having custody of the person detained"). The consistent use of the definite article in reference to the custodian indicates that there is generally only one proper respondent to a given prisoner's habeas petition. This custodian, moreover, is "the person" with the ability to produce the prisoner's body before the habeas court. Ibid. We summed up the plain language of the habeas statute over 100 years ago in this way: "[T]hese provisions contemplate a proceeding against some person who has the immediate custody of the party detained, with the power to produce the body of such party before the court or judge, that he may be liberated if no sufficient reason is shown to the contrary." Wales v. Whitney, 114 U. S. 564, 574 (1885) (emphasis added); see also Braden v. 30th Judicial Circuit Court of Ky., 410 U. S. 484, 494-495 (1973) ("The writ of habeas corpus" acts upon "the person who holds [the detainee] in what is alleged to be unlawful custody," citing Wales, supra, at 574); Braden, supra, at 495 (" `[T]his writ ... is directed to ... [the] jailer,' " quoting In the Matter of Jackson, 15 Mich. 417, 439-440 (1867)).
 In accord with the statutory language and Wales' immediate custodian rule, longstanding practice confirms that in habeas challenges to present physical confinement -- "core challenges" -- the default rule is that the proper respondent is the warden of the facility where the prisoner is being held, not the Attorney General or some other remote supervisory official. See, e.g., Hogan v. Hanks, 97 F. 3d 189, 190 (CA7 1996), Brittingham v. United States, 982 F. 2d 378, 379 (CA9 1992); Blango v. Thornburgh, 942 F. 2d 1487, 1491-1492 (CA10 1991) (per curiam); Brennan v. Cunningham, 813 F. 2d 1, 12 (CA1 1987); Guerra v. Meese, 786 F. 2d 414, 416 (CADC 1986); Billiteri v. United States Bd. of Parole, 541 F. 2d 938, 948 (CA2 1976); Sanders v. Bennett, 148 F. 2d 19, 20 (CADC 1945); Jones v. Biddle, 131 F. 2d 853, 854 (CA8 1942).*fn8 No exceptions to this rule, either recognized*fn9 or proposed, see post, at 4-5 (Kennedy, J., concurring), apply here.
 If the Wales immediate custodian rule applies in this case, Commander Marr -- the equivalent of the warden at the military brig -- is the proper respondent, not Secretary Rumsfeld. See Al-Marri v. Rumsfeld, 360 F. 3d 707, 708-709 (CA7 2004) (holding in the case of an alleged enemy combatant detained at the Consolidated Naval Brig, the proper respondent is Commander Marr, not Secretary Rumsfeld); Monk v. Secretary of the Navy, 793 F. 2d 364, 369 (CADC 1986) (holding that the proper respondent in a habeas action brought by a military prisoner is the commandant of the military detention facility, not the Secretary of the Navy); cf. 10 U. S. C. §951(c) (providing that the Commanding Officer of a military correctional facility "shall have custody and control" of the prisoners confined therein). Neither Padilla, nor the courts below, nor Justice Stevens' dissent deny the general applicability of the immediate custodian rule to habeas petitions challenging physical custody. Post, at 4. They argue instead that the rule is flexible and should not apply on the "unique facts" of this case. Brief for Respondents 44. We disagree.
 While Endo did involve a petitioner challenging her present physical confinement, it did not, as Padilla and Justice Stevens contend, hold that such a petitioner may properly name as respondent someone other than the immediate physical custodian. Post, at 7-8 (citing Endo as supporting a "more functional approach" that allows habeas petitioners to name as respondent an individual with "control" over the petitioner). Rather, the Court's holding that the writ could be directed to a supervisory official came not in our holding that the District Court initially acquired jurisdiction -- it did so because Endo properly named her immediate custodian and filed in the district of confinement -- but in our holding that the District Court could effectively grant habeas relief despite the Government-procured absence of petitioner from the Northern District.*fn14 Thus, Endo stands for the important but limited proposition that when the Government moves a habeas petitioner after she properly files a petition naming her immediate custodian, the District Court retains jurisdiction and may direct the writ to any respondent within its jurisdiction who has legal authority to effectuate the prisoner's release.
 Padilla's argument reduces to a request for a new exception to the immediate custodian rule based upon the "unique facts" of this case. While Padilla's detention is undeniably unique in many respects, it is at bottom a simple challenge to physical custody imposed by the Executive -- the traditional core of the Great Writ. There is no indication that there was any attempt to manipulate behind Padilla's transfer -- he was taken to the same facility where other al Qaeda members were already being held, and the Government did not attempt to hide from Padilla's lawyer where it had taken him. Infra, at 20-21 and n. 17; post, at 5 (Kennedy, J., concurring). His detention is thus not unique in any way that would provide arguable basis for a departure from the immediate custodian rule. Accordingly, we hold that Commander Marr, not Secretary Rumsfeld, is Padilla's custodian and the proper respondent to his habeas petition.
 Congress added the limiting clause -- "within their respective jurisdictions" -- to the habeas statute in 1867 to avert the "inconvenient [and] potentially embarrassing" possibility that "every judge anywhere [could] issue the Great Writ on behalf of applicants far distantly removed from the courts whereon they sat." Carbo v. United States, 364 U. S. 611, 617 (1961). Accordingly, with respect to habeas petitions "designed to relieve an individual from oppressive confinement," the traditional rule has always been that the Great Writ is "issuable only in the district of confinement." Id., at 618.
 Congress has also legislated against the background of the "district of confinement" rule by fashioning explicit exceptions to the rule in certain circumstances. For instance, §2241(d) provides that when a petitioner is serving a state criminal sentence in a State that contains more than one federal district, he may file a habeas petition not only "in the district court for the district wherein [he] is in custody," but also "in the district court for the district within which the State court was held which convicted and sentenced him;" and "each of such district courts shall have concurrent jurisdiction to entertain the application." Similarly, until Congress directed federal criminal prisoners to file certain post-conviction petitions in the sentencing courts by adding §2255 to the habeas statute, federal prisoners could litigate such collateral attacks only in the district of confinement. See United States v. Hayman, 342 U. S. 205, 212-219 (1952). Both of these provisions would have been unnecessary if, as the Court of Appeals believed, §2241's general habeas provisions permit a prisoner to file outside the district of confinement.
 Rather than focusing on the holding and historical context of Braden, Justice Stevens, post, at 8, like the Court of Appeals, seizes on dicta in which we referred to "service of process" to contend that the Southern District could assert jurisdiction over Secretary Rumsfeld under New York's long-arm statute. See Braden, 410 U. S., at 495 ("So long as the custodian can be reached by service of process, the court can issue a writ `within its jurisdiction' ... even if the prisoner himself is confined outside the court's territorial jurisdiction"). But that dicta did not indicate that a custodian may be served with process outside of the district court's territorial jurisdiction. To the contrary, the facts and holding of Braden dictate the opposite inference. Braden served his Kentucky custodian in Kentucky. Accordingly, we concluded that the Western District of Kentucky had jurisdiction over the petition "since the respondent was properly served in that district." Id., at 500 (emphasis added); see also Endo, supra, at 304-305 (noting that the court could issue the writ to a WRA official "whose office is at San Francisco, which is within the jurisdiction of the [Northern District of California]"). Thus, Braden in no way authorizes district courts to employ long-arm statutes to gain jurisdiction over custodians who are outside of their territorial jurisdiction. See Al-Marri, 360 F. 3d, at 711; Guerra, 786 F. 2d, at 417. Indeed, in stating its holding, Braden favorably cites Schlanger v. Seamans, 401 U. S. 487 (1971), a case squarely holding that the custodian's absence from the territorial jurisdiction of the district court is fatal to habeas jurisdiction. 410 U. S., at 500. Thus, Braden does not derogate from the traditional district of confinement rule for core habeas petitions challenging present physical custody.
 The Court of Appeals also thought Strait supported its long-arm approach to habeas jurisdiction. But Strait offers even less help than Braden. In Strait, we held that the Northern District of California had jurisdiction over Strait's "nominal" custodian -- the commanding officer of the Army records center -- even though he was physically located in Indiana. We reasoned that the custodian was "present" in California "through the officers in the hierarchy of the command who processed [Strait's] application for discharge." 406 U. S., at 345. The Strait Court contrasted its broad view of "presence" in the case of a nominal custodian with a " `commanding officer who is responsible for the day to day control of his subordinates,' " who would be subject to habeas jurisdiction only in the district where he physically resides. Ibid. (quoting Arlen v. Laird, 451 F. 2d 684, 687 (CA2 1971)).
 Here, by contrast, Padilla seeks to challenge his present physical custody in South Carolina. Because the immediate-custodian rule applies to such habeas challenges, the proper respondent is Commander Marr, who is also present in South Carolina. There is thus no occasion to designate a "nominal" custodian and determine whether he or she is "present" in the same district as petitioner.*fn15 Under Braden and the district of confinement rule, as we have explained, Padilla must file his habeas action in South Carolina. Were we to extend Strait's limited exception to the territorial nature of habeas jurisdiction to the context of physical-custody challenges, we would undermine, if not negate, the purpose of Congress in amending the habeas statute in 1867.
 The dissent contends that even if we do not indulge its hypothetical scenario, the Court has made "numerous exceptions" to the immediate custodian and district of confinement rules, rendering our bright-line rule "far from bright." Post, at 6. Yet the dissent cannot cite a single case in which we have deviated from the longstanding rule we reaffirm today -- that is, a case in which we allowed a habeas petitioner challenging his present physical custody within the United States to name as respondent someone other than the immediate custodian and to file somewhere other than the district of confinement.*fn18 If Justice Stevens' view were accepted, district courts would be consigned to making ad hoc determinations as to whether the circumstances of a given case are "exceptional," "special," or "unusual" enough to require departure from the jurisdictional rules this Court has consistently applied. We do not think Congress intended such a result.
 In May 2002, a grand jury convened in the Southern District of New York was conducting an investigation into the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In response to an application by the Department of Justice, the Chief Judge of the District issued a material witness warrant authorizing Padilla's arrest when his plane landed in Chicago on May 8.*fn19 Pursuant to that warrant, agents of the Department of Justice took Padilla (hereinafter respondent) into custody and transported him to New York City, where he was detained at the Metropolitan Correctional Center. On May 15, the court appointed Donna R. Newman, a member of the New York bar, to represent him. She conferred with respondent in person and filed motions on his behalf, seeking his release on the ground that his incarceration was unauthorized and unconstitutional. The District Court scheduled a hearing on those motions for Tuesday, June 11, 2002.
 It is reasonable to assume that if the Government had given Newman, who was then representing respondent in an adversary proceeding, notice of its intent to ask the District Court to vacate the outstanding material witness warrant and transfer custody to the Department of Defense, Newman would have filed the habeas petition then and there, rather than waiting two days.*fn21 Under that scenario, respondent's immediate custodian would then have been physically present in the Southern District of New York carrying out orders of the Secretary of Defense. Surely at that time Secretary Rumsfeld, rather than the lesser official who placed the handcuffs on petitioner, would have been the proper person to name as a respondent to that petition.
 Although the Court purports to be enforcing a "bright-line rule" governing district courts' jurisdiction, ante, at 21, an examination of its opinion reveals that the line is far from bright. Faced with a series of precedents emphasizing the writ's "scope and flexibility," Harris, 394 U. S., at 291, the Court is forced to acknowledge the numerous exceptions we have made to the immediate custodian rule. The rule does not apply, the Court admits, when physical custody is not at issue, ante, at 8, or when American citizens are confined overseas, ante, at 19, n. 16, or when the petitioner has been transferred after filing, ante, at 12-13, or when the custodian is " `present' " in the district through his agents' conduct, ante, at 17. In recognizing exception upon exception and corollaries to corollaries, the Court itself persuasively demonstrates that the rule is not ironclad. It is, instead, a workable general rule that frequently gives way outside the context of " `core challenges' " to Executive confinement. Ante, at 6.
 In the Court's view, respondent's detention falls within the category of " `core challenges' " because it is "not unique in any way that would provide arguable basis for a departure from the immediate custodian rule." Ante, at 13. It is, however, disingenuous at best to classify respondent's petition with run-of-the-mill collateral attacks on federal criminal convictions. On the contrary, this case is singular not only because it calls into question decisions made by the Secretary himself, but also because those decisions have created a unique and unprecedented threat to the freedom of every American citizen.
 "[W]e have consistently rejected interpretations of the habeas corpus statute that would suffocate the writ in stifling formalisms or hobble its effectiveness with the manacles of arcane and scholastic procedural requirements." Hensley v. Municipal Court, San Jose&nbhyph;Milpitas Judicial Dist., Santa Clara Cty., 411 U. S. 345, 350 (1973). With respect to the custody requirement, we have declined to adopt a strict reading of Wales v. Whitney, 114 U. S. 564 (1885), see Hensley, 411 U. S., at 350, n. 8, and instead have favored a more functional approach that focuses on the person with the power to produce the body. See Endo, 323 U. S., at 306-307.*fn22 In this case, the President entrusted the Secretary of Defense with control over respondent. To that end, the Secretary deployed Defense Department personnel to the Southern District with instructions to transfer respondent to South Carolina. Under the President's order, only the Secretary -- not a judge, not a prosecutor, not a warden -- has had a say in determining respondent's location. As the District Court observed, Secretary Rumsfeld has publicly shown "both his familiarity with the circumstances of Padilla's detention, and his personal involvement in the handling of Padilla's case." 233 F. Supp. 2d, at 574. Having "emphasized and jealously guarded" the Great Writ's "ability to cut through barriers of form and procedural mazes," Harris, 394 U. S., at 291, surely we should acknowledge that the writ reaches the Secretary as the relevant custodian in this case.
 Since the Secretary is a proper custodian, the question whether the petition was appropriately filed in the Southern District is easily answered. "So long as the custodian can be reached by service of process, the court can issue a writ `within its jurisdiction' requiring that the prisoner be brought before the court for a hearing on his claim . . . even if the prisoner himself is confined outside the court's territorial jurisdiction." Braden v. 30th Judicial Circuit Court of Ky., 410 U. S. 484, 495 (1973).*fn23 See also Endo, 323 U. S., at 306 ("[T]he court may act if there is a respondent within reach of its process who has custody of the petitioner"). In this case, Secretary Rumsfeld no doubt has sufficient contacts with the Southern District properly to be served with process there. The Secretary, after all, ordered military personnel to that forum to seize and remove respondent.
 It bears emphasis that the question of the proper forum to determine the legality of Padilla's incarceration is not one of federal subject-matter jurisdiction. See ante, at 5, n. 7; ante, at 1 (Kennedy, J., concurring). Federal courts undoubtedly have the authority to issue writs of habeas corpus to custodians who can be reached by service of process "within their respective jurisdictions." 28 U. S. C. §2241(a). Rather, the question is one of venue, i.e., in which federal court the habeas inquiry may proceed.*fn24 The Government purports to exercise complete control, free from judicial surveillance, over that placement. Venue principles, however, center on the most convenient and efficient forum for resolution of a case, see Braden, 410 U. S., at 493-494, 499-500 (considering those factors in allowing Alabama prisoner to sue in Kentucky), and on the placement most likely to minimize forum shopping by either party, see Eisel v. Secretary of the Army, 477 F. 2d 1251, 1254 (CADC 1973) (preferring such functional considerations to "blind incantation of words with implied magical properties, such as `immediate custodian' ").*fn25 Cf. Ex parte Bollman, 4 Cranch 75, 136 (1807) ("It would ... be extremely dangerous to say, that because the prisoners were apprehended, not by a civil magistrate, but by the military power, there could be given by law a right to try the persons so seized in any place which the general might select, and to which he might direct them to be carried").
 At stake in this case is nothing less than the essence of a free society. Even more important than the method of selecting the people's rulers and their successors is the character of the constraints imposed on the Executive by the rule of law. Unconstrained Executive detention for the purpose of investigating and preventing subversive activity is the hallmark of the Star Chamber.*fn28 Access to counsel for the purpose of protecting the citizen from official mistakes and mistreatment is the hallmark of due process.
 *fn1 The AUMF provides in relevant part: "[T]he President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons." 115 Stat. 224.
 *fn2 In short, the President "[d]etermine[d]" that Padilla (1) "is closely associated with al Qaeda, an international terrorist organization with which the United States is at war;" (2) that he "engaged in ... hostile and war-like acts, including ... preparation for acts of international terrorism" against the United States; (3) that he "possesses intelligence" about al Qaeda that "would aid U. S. efforts to prevent attacks by al Qaeda on the United States"; and finally, (4) that he "represents a continuing, present and grave danger to the national security of the United States," such that his military detention "is necessary to prevent him from aiding al Qaeda in its efforts to attack the United States." June 9 Order 5a-6a.
 *fn3 Also on June 9, the Government notified the District Court ex parte of the President's Order; informed the court that it was transferring Padilla into military custody in South Carolina and that it was consequently withdrawing its grand jury subpoena of Padilla; and asked the court to vacate the material witness warrant. Padilla ex rel Newman v. Rumsfeld, 233 F. Supp. 2d 564, 671 (SDNY 2002). The court vacated the warrant. Ibid.
 *fn4 The court dismissed Commander Marr, Padilla's immediate custodian, reasoning that she would be obliged to obey any order the court directed to the Secretary. 233 F. Supp. 2d, at 583 The court also dismissed President Bush as a respondent, a ruling Padilla does not challenge. Id., at 582-583.
 *fn5 Although the District Court upheld the President's authority to detain domestically captured enemy combatants, it rejected the Government's contentions that Padilla has no right to challenge the factual basis for his detention and that he should be denied access to counsel. Instead, the court held that the habeas statute affords Padilla the right to controvert alleged facts, and granted him monitored access to counsel to effectuate that right. Id., at 599-605. Finally, the court announced that after it received Padilla's factual proffer, it would apply a deferential "some evidence" standard to determine whether the record supports the President's designation of Padilla as an enemy combatant. Id., at 605-608.
 *fn6 Section 4001(a) provides that "[n]o citizen shall be imprisoned or otherwise detained by the United States except pursuant to an Act of Congress."
 *fn7 The word "jurisdiction," of course, is capable of different interpretations. We use it in the sense that it is used in the habeas statute, 28 U. S. C. §2241(a), and not in the sense of subject-matter jurisdiction of the District Court.
 *fn8 In Ahrens v. Clark, 335 U. S. 188 (1948), we left open the question whether the Attorney General is a proper respondent to a habeas petition filed by an alien detained pending deportation. Id., at 189, 193. The lower courts have divided on this question, with the majority applying the immediate custodian rule and holding that the Attorney General is not a proper respondent. Compare Robledo-Gonzales v. Ashcroft, 342 F. 3d 667 (CA7 2003) (Attorney General is not proper respondent); Roman v. Ashcroft, 340 F. 3d 314 (CA6 2003) (same); Vasquez v. Reno, 233 F. 3d 688 (CA1 2000) (same); Yi v. Maugans, 24 F. 3d 500 (CA3 1994) (same), with Armentero v. INS, 340 F. 3d 1058 (CA9 2003) (Attorney General is proper respondent). The Second Circuit discussed the question at some length, but ultimately reserved judgment in Henderson v. INS, 157 F. 3d 106 (1998). Because the issue is not before us today, we again decline to resolve it.
 *fn9 We have long implicitly recognized an exception to the immediate custodian rule in the military context where an American citizen is detained outside the territorial jurisdiction of any district court. Braden v. 30th Judicial Circuit Court of Ky., 410 U. S. 484, 498 (1973) (discussing the exception); United States ex rel. Toth v. Quarles, 350 U. S. 11 (1955) (court-martial convict detained in Korea named Secretary of the Air Force as respondent); Burns v. Wilson, 346 U. S. 137 (1953) (court-martial convicts detained in Guam named Secretary of Defense as respondent).
 *fn10 For other landmark cases addressing the meaning of "in custody" under the habeas statute, see Garlotte v. Fordice, 515 U. S. 39 (1995); Carafas v. LaVallee, 391 U. S. 234 (1968); Peyton v. Rowe, 391 U. S. 54 (1968); Jones v. Cunningham, 371 U. S. 236 (1963).
 *fn11 Furthermore, Congress has not substantively amended in more than 130 years the relevant portions of the habeas statute on which Wales based its immediate custodian rule, despite uniform case law embracing the Wales rule in challenges to physical custody.
 *fn12 The Court of Appeals reasoned that "only [the Secretary] -- not Commander Marr -- could inform the President that further restraint of Padilla as an enemy combatant is no longer necessary." 352 F. 3d 695, 707 (CA2 2003). Justice Stevens' dissent echoes this argument. Post, at 7-8.
 *fn13 Even less persuasive is the Court of Appeals' and the dissent's belief that Secretary Rumsfeld's "unique" and "pervasive" personal involvement in authorizing Padilla's detention justifies naming him as the respondent. 352 F. 3d, at 707-708 (noting that the Secretary "was charged by the President in the June 9 Order with detaining Padilla" and that the Secretary "determined that Padilla would be sent to the brig in South Carolina"); post, at 8. If personal involvement were the standard, "then the prosecutor, the trial judge, or the governor would be named as respondents" in criminal habeas cases. Al-Marri v. Rumsfeld, 360 F. 3d 707, 711 (CA7 2004). As the Seventh Circuit correctly held, the proper respondent is the person responsible for maintaining -- not authorizing -- the custody of the prisoner. Ibid.
 *fn14 As we explained: "Th[e] objective [of habeas relief] may be in no way impaired or defeated by the removal of the prisoner from the territorial jurisdiction of the District Court. That end may be served and the decree of the court made effective if a respondent who has custody of the [petitioner] is within reach of the court's process." 323 U. S., at 307.
 *fn15 In other words, Commander Marr is the equivalent of the "commanding officer with day to day control" that we distinguished in Strait. 406 U. S., at 345 (internal quotation marks omitted).
 *fn16 As a corollary to the previously referenced exception to the immediate custodian rule, n. 8, supra, we have similarly relaxed the district of confinement rule when "Americans citizens confined overseas (and thus outside the territory of any district court) have sought relief in habeas corpus." Braden, 410 U. S., at 498 (citing cases). In such cases, we have allowed the petitioner to name as respondent a supervisory official and file the petition in the district where the respondent resides. Burns v. Wilson, 346 U. S. 137 (1953) (court-martial convicts held in Guam sued Secretary of Defense in the District of Columbia); United States ex rel. Toth v. Quarles, 350 U. S. 11 (1955) (court-martial convict held in Korea sued Secretary of the Air Force in the District of Columbia).
 *fn17 On a related note, the dissent argues that the facts as they actually existed at the time of filing should not matter, because "what matters for present purposes are the facts available to [counsel] at the time of filing." Post, at 4-5, n. 3. According to the dissent, because the Government "shrouded . . . in secrecy" the location of Padilla's military custody, counsel was entitled to file in the district where Padilla's presence was "last officially confirmed." Ibid. As with the argument addressed above, neither Padilla nor the District Court -- which was much closer to the facts of the case than we are -- or the Court of Appeals ever suggested that the Government concealed Padilla's whereabouts from counsel, much less contended that such concealment was the basis for habeas jurisdiction in the Southern District. And even if this were a valid legal argument, the record simply does not support the dissent's inference of Government secrecy. The dissent relies solely on a letter written by Padilla's counsel. In that same letter, however, counsel states that she "was informed [on June 10]" that her client had been taken into custody by the Department of Defense and "detain[ed] at a naval military prison." App. 66. When counsel filed Padilla's habeas petition on June 11, she averred that "Padilla is being held in segregation at the high-security Consolidated Naval Brig in Charleston, South Carolina." Pet. for Writ of Habeas Corpus, June 11, 2002, p. 2. The only reasonable inference, particularly in light of Padilla's failure to argue to the contrary, is that counsel was well aware of Padilla's presence in South Carolina when she filed the habeas petition, not that the Government "shrouded" Padilla's whereabouts in secrecy.
 *fn18 Instead, Justice Stevens, like the Court of Appeals, relies heavily on Braden, Strait, and other cases involving challenges to something other than present physical custody. Post, at 7-10; post, at 7-8, n. 4 (citing Garlotte v. Fordice, 515 U. S. 39 (1995) (habeas petitioner challenging expired sentence named Governor as respondent; immediate custodian issue not addressed); Middendorf v. Henry, 425 U. S. 25 (1976) (putative habeas class action challenging court-martial procedures throughout the military; immediate custodian issue not addressed)); post, at 9-10 (citing Eisel v. Secretary of the Army, 477 F. 2d 1251 (CADC 1973) (allowing an inactive reservist challenging his military status to name the Secretary of the Army as respondent)). Demjanjuk v. Meese, 784 F. 2d 1114 (CADC 1986), on which the dissent relies, post, at 4, is similarly unhelpful: When, as in that case, a prisoner is held in an undisclosed location by an unknown custodian, it is impossible to apply the immediate custodian and district of confinement rules. That is not the case here, where the identity of the immediate custodian and the location of the appropriate district court are clear. The dissent also cites two cases in which a state prisoner proceeding under 28 U. S. C. §2254 named as respondent the State's officer in charge of penal institutions. Post, at 7, n. 4 (citing California Dept. of Corrections v. Morales, 514 U. S. 499 (1995); Wainwright v. Greenfield, 474 U. S. 284 (1986)). But such cases do not support Padilla's cause. First of all, the respondents did not challenge their designation as inconsistent with the immediate custodian rule. More to the point, Congress has authorized §2254 petitioners challenging present physical custody to name either the warden or the chief state penal officer as a respondent. Rule 2(a) of the Rules Governing Section 2254 Cases in the United States District Courts; Advisory Committee Note to Rule 2(a), 28 U. S. C. pp. 469-470 (adopted in 1976). Congress has made no such provision for §2241 petitioners like Padilla.
 *fn19 As its authority for detaining respondent as a material witness, the Government relied on a federal statute that provides: "If it appears from an affidavit filed by a party that the testimony of a person is material in a criminal proceeding, and if it is shown that it may become impracticable to secure the presence of the person by subpoena, a judicial officer may order the arrest of the person and treat the person in accordance with the provisions of section 3142 ... . Release of a material witness may be delayed for a reasonable period of time until the deposition of the witness can be taken pursuant to the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure." 18 U. S. C. §3144.
 *fn20 The order vacating the material witness warrant that the District Court entered in the ex parte proceeding on June 9 terminated the Government's lawful custody of respondent. After that order was entered, Secretary Rumsfeld's agents took custody of respondent. The authority for that action was based entirely on the President's command to the Secretary -- a document that, needless to say, would not even arguably qualify as a valid warrant. Thus, whereas respondent's custody during the period between May 8 and June 9, 2002, was pursuant to a judicially authorized seizure, he has been held ever since -- for two years -- pursuant to a warrantless arrest.
 *fn21 The record indicates that the Government had not officially informed Newman of her client's whereabouts at the time she filed the habeas petition on June 11. Pet. for Writ of Habeas Corpus 2, ¶ ;4 ("On information and belief, Padilla is being held in segregation at the high-security Consolidated Naval Brig in Charleston, South Carolina"); Letter from Donna R. Newman to General Counsel of the Department of Defense, June 17, 2002 ("I understand from the media that my client is being held in Charleston, South Carolina in the military brig" (emphasis added)), Amended Pet. for Writ of Habeas Corpus, Exh. A, p. 4, Record, Doc. 4. Thus, while it is true, as the Court observes, that "Padilla was moved from New York to South Carolina before his lawyer filed a habeas petition on his behalf," ante, at 13, what matters for present purposes are the facts available to Newman at the time of filing. When the Government shrouded those facts in secrecy, Newman had no option but to file immediately in the district where respondent's presence was last officially confirmed. Moreover, Newman was appointed to represent respondent by the District Court for the Southern District of New York. Once the Government removed her client, it did not permit her to counsel him until February 11, 2004. Consultation thereafter has been allowed as a matter of the Government's grace, not as a matter of right stemming from the Southern District of New York appointment. Cf. ante, at 4-5 (Kennedy, J., concurring). Further, it is not apparent why the District of South Carolina, rather than the Southern District of New York, should be regarded as the proper forum to determine the validity of the "change in the Government's rationale for detaining" respondent. Ante, at 5. If the Government's theory is not "a permissible one," ibid., then the New York federal court would remain the proper forum in this case. Why should the New York court not have the authority to determine the legitimacy of the Government's removal of respondent beyond that court's borders?
 *fn22 For other cases in which the immediate custodian rule has not been strictly applied, see Garlotte v. Fordice, 515 U. S. 39 (1995) (prisoner named Governor of Mississippi, not warden, as respondent); California Dept. of Corrections v. Morales, 514 U. S. 499 (1995) (prisoner named Department of Corrections, not warden, as respondent); Wainwright v. Greenfield, 474 U. S. 284 (1986) (prisoner named Secretary of Florida Department of Corrections, not warden, as respondent); Middendorf v. Henry, 425 U. S. 25 (1976) (persons convicted or ordered to stand trial at summary courts-martial named Secretary of the Navy as respondent); Strait v. Laird, 406 U. S. 341, 345-346 (1972) ("The concepts of `custody' and `custodian' are sufficiently broad to allow us to say that the commanding officer in Indiana, operating through officers in California in processing petitioner's claim, is in California for the limited purposes of habeas corpus jurisdiction"); Burns v. Wilson, 346 U. S. 137 (1953) (service members convicted and held in military custody in Guam named Secretary of Defense as respondent); United States ex rel. Toth v. Quarles, 350 U. S. 11 (1955) (next friend of ex-service member in military custody in Korea named Secretary of the Air Force as respondent); Ex parte Endo, 323 U. S. 283, 304 (1944) (California District Court retained jurisdiction over Japanese-American's habeas challenge to her internment, despite her transfer to Utah, noting absence of any "suggestion that there is no one within the jurisdiction of the District Court who is responsible for the detention of appellant and who would be an appropriate respondent").
 *fn23 Although, as the Court points out, ante, at 16, the custodian in Braden was served within the territorial jurisdiction of the District Court, the salient point is that Endo and Braden decoupled the District Court's jurisdiction from the detainee's place of confinement and adopted for unusual cases a functional analysis that does not depend on the physical location of any single party.
 *fn24 Although the Court makes no reference to venue principles, it is clear that those principles, not rigid jurisdictional rules, govern the forum determination. In overruling Ahrens v. Clark, 335 U. S. 188 (1948), the Court in Braden v. 30th Judicial Circuit Court of Ky., 410 U. S. 484 (1973), clarified that the place of detention pertains only to the question of venue. See id., at 493-495 (applying "traditional venue considerations" and rejecting a stricter jurisdictional approach); id., at 502 (Rehnquist, J., dissenting) ("Today the Court overrules Ahrens"); Moore v. Olson, 368 F. 3d 757, 758 (CA7 2004) ("[A]fter Braden ... , which overruled Ahrens, the location of a collateral attack is best understood as a matter of venue"); Armentero v. INS, 340 F. 3d 1058, 1070 (CA9 2003) ("District courts may use traditional venue considerations to control where detainees bring habeas petitions" (citing Braden, 410 U. S., at 493-494)).
 *fn25 If, upon consideration of traditional venue principles, the district court in which a habeas petition is filed determines that venue is inconvenient or improper, it of course has the authority to transfer the petition. See 28 U. S. C. §§1404(a), 1406(a).
 *fn26 Consistent with the judgment of the Court of Appeals, I believe that the Non-Detention Act, 18 U. S. C. §4001(a), prohibits -- and the Authorization for Use of Military Force Joint Resolution, 115 Stat. 224, adopted on September 18, 2001, does not authorize -- the protracted, incommunicado detention of American citizens arrested in the United States.
 *fn27 Respondent's custodian has been remarkably candid about the Government's motive in detaining respondent: " `[O]ur interest really in his case is not law enforcement, it is not punishment because he was a terrorist or working with the terrorists. Our interest at the moment is to try and find out everything he knows so that hopefully we can stop other terrorist acts.' " 233 F. Supp. 2d 564, 573-574 (SDNY 2002) (quoting News Briefing, Dept. of Defense (June 12, 2002), 2002 WL 22026773).
 *fn28 See Watts v. Indiana, 338 U. S. 49, 54 (1949) (opinion of Frankfurter, J.). "There is torture of mind as well as body; the will is as much affected by fear as by force. And there comes a point where this Court should not be ignorant as judges of what we know as men." Id., at 52.

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