Salim Ahmed Hamdan v. Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, et al.

Decided June 29, 2006. John Paul Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 05-184 · 548 U.S. 557 (2006) · Cited 395 times

We don’t yet publish a summary of this opinion — read the official text below for the Court’s holding and reasoning.

How the Justices voted

Decided 5–3.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Ex Parte Quirin · 317 U.S. 1 (1942)
• Schlesinger v. Councilman · 420 U.S. 738 (1975)
• Lindh v. Murphy · 521 U.S. 320 (1997)
• In Re Yamashita · 327 U.S. 1 (1946)
• Landgraf v. USI Film Products · 511 U.S. 244 (1994)
• Johnson v. Eisentrager · 339 U.S. 763 (1950)
• Bruner v. United States · 343 U.S. 112 (1952)
• Hamdi v. Rumsfeld · 542 U.S. 507 (2004)
• Insurance Co. v. Ritchie · 72 U.S. 541 (1867)
• Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer · 343 U.S. 579 (1952)
• Rasul v. Bush · 542 U.S. 466 (2004)
• Hughes Aircraft Co. v. United States Ex Rel. Schumer · 520 U.S. 939 (1997)
• Republic of Austria v. Altmann · 541 U.S. 677 (2004)
• Hallowell v. Commons · 239 U.S. 506 (1916)
• Duncan v. Kahanamoku · 327 U.S. 304 (1946)
• Immigration & Naturalization Service v. St. Cyr · 533 U.S. 289 (2001)
• Quackenbush v. Allstate Insurance · 517 U.S. 706 (1996)
• Younger v. Harris · 401 U.S. 37 (1971)
• Reid v. Covert · 354 U.S. 1 (1957)
• Haig v. Agee · 453 U.S. 280 (1981)
• Swain v. Pressley · 430 U.S. 372 (1977)
• Field v. Mans · 516 U.S. 59 (1995)
• Felker v. Turpin · 518 U.S. 651 (1996)
• United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp. · 299 U.S. 304 (1936)
• United States v. Klein · 80 U.S. 128 (1872)
• Loving v. United States · 517 U.S. 748 (1996)
• Noyd v. Bond · 395 U.S. 683 (1969)
• Massachusetts v. United States · 333 U.S. 611 (1948)
• Railroad Co. v. Grant · 98 U.S. 398 (1879)
• Crawford v. Washington · 541 U.S. 36 (2004)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Boumediene v. Bush · 553 U.S. 723 (2008)
• Zivotofsky v. Kerry · 576 U.S. 1 (2015)
• Medellin v. Texas · 552 U.S. 491 (2008)
• United States v. Texas · 599 U.S. 670 (2023)
• Dorsey v. United States · 567 U.S. 260 (2012)
• Jones v. Hendrix · 599 U.S. 465 (2023)
• Graham County Soil & Water Conservation District v. United States Ex Rel. Wilson · 559 U.S. 280 (2010)
• Ramos v. Louisiana · 590 U.S. 83 (2020)
• Ortiz v. United States · 585 U.S. 427 (2018)
• FCC v. Consumers' Research · 606 U.S. 656 (2025)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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Source: the U.S. Reports via govinfo.gov; authoring Justice and vote lineup from the Supreme Court Database (Washington University). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).