Holder: Drop Ban on Detainee Civilian Trials
Josh Gerstein at Politico reports:
Attorney General Holder is urging the Senate to drop a provision in a spending bill that passed the House on Wednesday that would ban transfers of Guantanamo Bay prisoners to the U.S. — effectively scuttling the prospects for a civilian trial for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other alleged Al Qaeda operatives currently at the island prison run by the U.S. military.
In a letter to Senate leaders, Holder called the provision "an extreme and risky encroachment on the authority of the Executive Branch." There was no immediate indication from the White House whether President Barack Obama finds the Gitmo-related limit so objectionable that he would veto the continuing resolution funding the government through September.
"This provision goes well beyond existing law and would unwisely restrict the ability of the Executive Branch to prosecute alleged terrorists in Federal courts or military commissions in the United States as well as its ability to incarcerate those convicted in those tribunals," Holder said in the letter, sent Thursday to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) "In order to protect the American people as effectively as possible, we must be in a position to use every lawful instrument of national power to ensure that terrorists are brought to justice and can no longer threaten American lives."
Holder also called the provision, which specifically names alleged September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, historically unprecedented. "We have been unable to identify any parallel to Section 1116 in the history of our nation in which Congress has intervened to prohibit the prosecution of particular persons or crimes. It would be a mistake to tie the hands of the president and his national security advisers now," the attorney general wrote.
The restriction would appear to allow military commissions trials for Guantanamo prisoners at Guantanamo Bay or other locations outside the U.S. The administration could also decide to continue to hold such prisoners without trial under the laws of war. Holder said last month that the administration was "close" to remaking a decision about where to try KSM and others allegedly involved in Sept. 11. An initial plan to try them in federal court in Manhattan was abandoned by the administration earlier this year due to local opposition.
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