Legal Commentary

Republicans Attack Holder Over Detainee Amicus Briefs

By Jeralyn

Don't Republicans have anything better to do? Now they are attacking Attorney General Eric Holder because he didn't disclose during his Senate confirmation hearings that he signed onto three Amicus briefs for Jose Padilla, the accused enemy combatant held for 3 1/2 years in a military brig, without access to counsel, before charges were filed.

“The briefs should have been disclosed as part of the confirmation process,” said Matthew Miller, a Justice Department spokesman. “In preparing thousands of pages for submission, it was unfortunately and inadvertently missed. In any event, the attorney general has publicly discussed his positions on detention policy on many occasions, including at his confirmation hearing.”

The briefs challenged then-President Bush's authority to indefinitely detain enemy combatents. They were filed in the Jose Padilla case. Links to them below: [More...]

• No. 03-1027 (pdf)
• No. 05-533 (pdf)
• No. 05-533 (pdf)

It was Bush who ultimately decided to move Padilla to civilian court where he was tried, convicted and sentenced to 17 years.

Did the Senate Judiciary Committee not have access to Lexis to run a simple search for Holder's name and come up with it on their own?

The documents were “friend of the court” briefs submitted to the Supreme Court by several former Clinton administration officials, including Mr. Holder and former Attorney General Janet Reno.

Mr. Miller said the group submitted several versions of the brief at different stages in the case of Jose Padilla, an American citizen who had been arrested in Chicago in 2002 and accused of planning an attack for Al Qaeda. President George W. Bush designated Mr. Padilla an “enemy combatant,” placed him in military custody, cut off his access to a lawyer and declared that he could imprison him indefinitely for the purpose of interrogation, without judicial review.

Here's Bloviator-in-Chief Jeff Sessions:

And Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama, said the opinions in the briefs “go to the heart of his responsibilities in matters of national security. This is an extremely serious matter and the attorney general will have to address it.”

The President, elected by the people, has declared many times he believes the same thing. And that belief is correct.

Jeff Sessions (like Lindsay Graham, his partner in dangerous, conservative fear-mongering) serioulsy need a muzzle.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on March 11, 2010 (boomark / email).