President Bush has quietly signed an executive order allowing civilians to be tried by military tribunals. This may be outrageous. I say "may be" because the degree to which we should be outraged depends on the details of this not-yet-released executive order. Does the executive order apply only to non-U.S. citizens, as some news reports say? Perhaps it applies only abroad, to Al Qaeda saboteurs trying to blow up U.S. military bases? Does it apply solely to illegal immigrants? If it applies to people living in or visiting the U.S. legally, what happened to our Sixth Amendment right "to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury?" One thing that seems apparent is that the writ of Habeas Corpus, the so-called Great Writ and bulwark of liberty, is in danger of disappearing. The Constitution says "the privilege of the writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it." During the Civil War, President Lincoln suspended the writ of Habeas Corpus and ordered that suspected political criminals be tried before military tribunals. Alas, and predictably, you won't see anything on the White House website. The staff there managed to place online an executive order creating a "task force on citizen prepardness" (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/11/20011109-15.html) -- but somehow neglected to do the same with news that's just a tad more important. -Declan http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/14/national/14DETA.html WASHINGTON, Nov. 13 — President Bush signed an order today allowing special military tribunals to try foreigners charged with terrorism. A senior administration official said that any such trials would "not necessarily" be public and that the American tribunals might operate in Pakistan and Afghanistan. See also: http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/11/13/inv.military.trials/index.html http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/archives/2001/nov/13/111302554.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23716-2001Nov13.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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