The "Bizarre Result": The Alien Tort Statute, The Westfall Act, and the Problem of Wartime Detentions in Ali v. Rumsfeld

Abstract

On June 21, 2011, in Ali v. Rumsfeld, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia held that constitutional protections do not apply to noncitizen enemy detainees in a foreign theater of war, and that the Westfall Act immunizes federal employees from suits brought by such detainees under the Alien Tort Statute. This decision adds to the uncertainty about what recourse, if any, noncitizen enemy detainees have for abuses committed by their U.S. military captors.