Following Attorney General Eric Holder’s announcement Monday that the United States would try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his four co-conspirators in military commissions at Guantanamo Bay, The Heritage Foundation’s Senior Legal Fellow, Cully Stimson, testified at a House Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday on the 9/11 trials. Stimson’s message? The right decision on military commissions has finally been made; now Congress and the White House must stand by it and fully resource them to ensure their success: [T]he administration and Congress must take every reasonable step to ensure that the trial …
When Attorney General Eric Holder announced that he intended to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and five other terrorists in a civilian court in New York City rather than in a military tribunal, we here at The Heritage Foundation condemned it as “A Historically Bad Decision.” It may have taken the Obama administration four months to fully realize just how terrible Holder’s judgment was, but today’s story from The Washington Post is great news for the rule of law and national security: President Obama’s advisers are nearing a recommendation that Khalid …
The Obama Administration’s preference to treat terrorists as mere criminals, and not as hybrid enemy combatants to be tried in military commissions, has been made crystal clear. The Administration boasts that the United States has successfully prosecuted hundreds of terrorists in federal court in the past, and as such, we should continue to use federal courts for the most serious terrorists, like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. What they don’t tell you, however, is that they are playing fast and loose with the numbers and types of terrorists tried in federal court. …
Yesterday, the White House ordered the Department of Justice to begin considering places other than New York City to host the civilian criminal trial of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other terrorists. The New York Times describes a decision to move the trials out of New York as “a retreat by the administration” and reported that the Obama administration “was scrambling” to find a new way forward. This latest bit of self-inflicted national security chaos comes after Obama ally New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced yesterday that he did …
Today, the Obama White House asked Attorney General Eric Holder’s Justice Department to look for an alternative site to hold the federal trial of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-conspirators. In the last week, the political support for the controversial decision to hold the trial in New York City evaporated. Now, the Obama administration is scrambling to find an alternative location for the federal trial. Instead of looking for a new ZIP-code for a costly federal trial, the administration should send those detainees back to a military commission …
In Senator-elect Scott Brown’s victory speech on Tuesday, he boldy stated that “our Constitution and laws exist to protect this nation – they do not grant rights and privileges to enemies in wartime … In dealing with terrorists, our tax dollars should pay for weapons to stop them, not lawyers to defend them.” Politico’s Josh Gerstein today reported on how Brown’s victory — and views on terrorism — may impact President Barack Obama’s anti-terrorism agenda, which to date has included plans to shut-down Guantanamo Bay, moving those prisoners to the …
Last Friday, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and five other terrorists would be tried in a civilian court in New York City rather than before a military tribunal. Pressing Holder on this decision at yesterday’s Senate Judiciary Committee Oversight hearing of the U.S. Department of Justice, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) asked: “Can you give me a case in United States history where a (sic) enemy combatant caught on a battlefield was tried in civilian court?” Holder responded: “I don’t know. I’d have to look at that. …
Edwin Meese III, the Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow in Public Policy and Chairman of the Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation as well as the United States Attorney General between 1985 and 1988 released the following statement today on the proposed trials of terrorists in New York City, including confessed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. “It is clear that foreign terrorists and terrorist groups have committed acts of war against the United States, and that our national security requires that we respond accordingly. This means that …
