Litigation

NY Senate: ?No 9/11 Trial in NYC?

By Peter Hardin

The issue of whether to try the accused 9/11 co-conspirators in federal court in New York City or before a military tribunal continues to fuel controversy, even though the Obama administration has signaled it’s looking at other locations for the trial.

The New York Senate has passed a resolution taking a firm stance against holding the terror suspects’ trials in New York City, and favoring their prosecution in a military tribunal system, according to the New York Times.

Two new political polls, meanwhile, showed a majority of Americans favor trying terror suspects before military tribunals, CNN reported. The polls were conducted by ABC News/Washington Post and by Quinnipiac University.

A San Francisco Chronicle column by Glenn Sulmasy suggested creation of a national security court, “a hybrid of the military commissions and traditional federal courts.”

On another legal front tied to responses to terrorism, the New York Times profiled a case to be argued before the Supreme Court this month that “represents the court?s first encounter with the free speech and association rights of American citizens in the context of terrorism since the Sept. 11 attacks ? and its first chance to test the constitutionality of a provision of the USA Patriot Act.”

In the appeal, the Obama administration is defending a law that makes it illegal to give support to a foreign terrorist group.

You can learn more about controversy over detainee trials by clicking here for Gavel Grab, and about the Patriot Act by clicking here. It was passed by Congress shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks.

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