Highlights of the act

Allows

Enemy combatants to be held indefinitely without trial or access to an attorney, but once the detainee stands trial, a lawyer is assigned.

Hearsay evidence so long as a judge determines it was reliable. Hearsay evidence is evidence based on what someone has told a witness, not something the witnesses have seen or heard for themselves.

Defendants to see some -- but not necessarily all -- of the evidence.

The imposition of the death sentence.

Bans

Certain abuses of detainees, such as torture and rape -- but gives the president leeway to decide whether interrogators can use other coercive techniques.

Suspects from going to court to challenge the constitutionality of their confinement.

Defendants from invoking the Geneva Conventions as a source of rights.

SOURCE: JURIST, news reports
KATHLEEN HENNRIKUS/GLOBE STAFF