In Ali v. Obama, the federal appeals court in Washington, DC denied the petitioner’s writ of habeas corpus petition, holding that “determining whether an individual is part of Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or an associated force almost always requires drawing inferences from the circumstantial evidence, such as that individual’s personal associations.” In March 2002, the petitioner was captured in Pakistan while staying at a guesthouse of Abu Zubayadah (an ally of Osama bin Laden), declared an enemy combatant, and subsequently detained at Guantanamo Bay.

The petitioner denied any involvement with Al-Qaeda and challenged the proof of his alleged involvement. The court held that “as in any criminal or civil case, there remains a possibility that the contrary conclusion is true—in other words—that Ali was not part of Abu Zubayadah’s force. But the preponderance standard entails decisions based on the more likely conclusion. In our judgment, the evidence here demonstrates that Ali more likely than not was part of Zubaydah’s force. The President therefore has authority to detain Ali under the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force.”