Civil Liberties Online
Ex Parte Quirin, 317 U.S. 1 (1942)
Petitioners were eight United States residents from Germany. They were captured while entering the country during time of war and accused of committing several wartime crimes. The President ordered that, under the Articles of War, the petitioners had to be tried before a military tribunal. The Court upheld the President’s decision, despite the petitioners’ Fifth and Sixth Amendment complaints. The Court denied the petitioners the right to a civil trial or one with a jury because they found the petitioners to be unlawful belligerents. Therefore, the President had the power to assume the Articles of War authority.
