Litigation

A Roaring Debate over Handling Terror Suspects

By Peter Hardin

There is no let-up in the heated debate over trying Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four co-defendants in civilian courts versus military tribunals, and also about how to handle terror detainees held at Guantanamo Bay.

In the latest round, a Philadelphia Inquirer editorial contended that moving the venue out of New York City for the alleged 9/11 co-conspirators is all right, with this major caveat:

“As long as these men are tried by federal judges under rules that provide for due process, their day in court will meet the president’s objective of bringing more of the nation’s antiterror efforts under the rule of law.”

The U.S. Justice Department, meanwhile, asked  dismissal of a case in which the Supreme Court had agreed to consider whether a judge can order release into the United States of detainees wrongly held at Guantanamo (see Gavel Grab). Because of re-settlement offers to Muslim Uighur detainees in the case, the government said it could be dismissed as “improvidently granted,” according to SCOTUSblog. The case has a major potential impact, SCOTUSblog reported:

“A dismissal of the case would allow the government to avoid, at least temporarily, a ruling that might keep within the courts some of the power to decide the fate of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, after they have been cleared for release.”

The Washington Post called in an editorial for creation of a clear set of standards governing indefinite detention for the very worst terrorism suspects, and for establishment of a national security court “that would give detainees robust adversarial rights and give the judiciary the authority to oversee such continued detentions.”

In an article, the New York Times examined the rigorous political battle over terrorism that has been renewed by the Christmas day bombing attempt on a Detroit-bound airliner, and President Obama’s own pushback against Republican critics. He told CBS News:

?The most important thing for the public to understand is we?re not handling any of these cases any different than the Bush administration handled them all through 9/11.”

Further stories can be found in Time magazine, Newsweek, and Salon. To learn more background, read these earlier Gavel Grab posts.

Full post as published by The Gavel on February 08, 2010 (boomark / email).