Litigation

GOP Senators Ask Military Trial for Terror Suspect

By Peter Hardin

Twenty-two Republican U.S. senators wrote President Barack Obama contending that a military tribunal, not a civilian court in Michigan, is the appropriate place to try  Christmas Day airliner bombing attempt suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (photo at right).

Prosecution in a federal court gives Abdulmutallab too many privileges, the senators wrote, according to an article in Politico:

?By prosecuting Abdulmutallab and the 9/11 conspirators in criminal court…  it creates the impression that terrorists are rewarded with the full panoply of rights and privileges of an American if they attack defenseless civilians at home.”

The debate over handling terrorism suspects in civilian courts or before military tribunals continued without letup. A National Journal article says it is time for Obama to seek legislation “to legitimize and regulate the detention and interrogation of terrorism suspects outside the ordinary criminal process.” Retired U.S. Judge H. Lee Sarokin endorses in Huffington Post trying 9/11 terror suspects in federal court but opposes New York City as the venue.

In addition, Time magazine asks, “How Should America Try Terror Suspects?” And Charles Krauthammer argues in National Review that the Obama administration’s handling of Abdulmutallab as a criminal defendant “is nuts.” You can learn more about the controversy over trying terror suspects from earlier Gavel Grab posts.

Full post as published by The Gavel on January 11, 2010 (boomark / email).