I have argued, “Quirin to Hamdan: Creating a Hybrid Paradigm for the Detention of Terrorists”, Florida Journal of International Law (forthcoming) and “Where are Terrorists to be Tried - A Comparative Analysis of Rights Granted to Suspected Terrorists“, Catholic University Law Review, Vol. 56, No. 2, Spring 2007 for the need to establish an alternative legal paradigm for bringing to trial individuals presently detained in Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib.
My proposal would require amending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Court so that it would function as a domestic terror court. The defendants would be granted most—but not all—of the criminal law rights available to defendants in the Article III courts today. One of the primary distinctions is that defendants brought before the amended FISA Court would not be guaranteed—because of the need to protect sources—the right to confront all of their accusers. The proposal which includes independent judicial review of remand and conviction decisions alike would enable the government to bring to trial both US and non-US citizens (including those currently held outside of the US who would be brought to the US for trial) to whom certain constitutional privileges (including Miranda) would be extended.
The proposal is mentioned in the following article: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gitmo17jun17,1,952291.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
Comment #1
eatinndrinkin said,
The image of the United States has been irreparably damaged its indefinite detention of terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay and the refusal to grant such suspects anything even resembling due process. The detention of prisoners without charging them with a crime and without plans to try them goes against the tradition of justice that is the pillar of a free society and it undermines international laws and treaties of which the United States should be a leader in maintaining. The damage that these detentions have caused to the U.S. reputation in the international community is greater than any possible damage that may occur if the detainees were to be afforded the rights of prisoners of war in accordance with the Geneva Conventions.
I agree that agree the current system in place for detaining terror suspects and the tribunals that President Bush has created to try and prosecute them must be overhauled. The domestic terror court proposed by Prof. Guiora is an interesting proposal and if implemented could provide a working compromise between those who call for the complete closure of the Guantanamo detention camp and those who argue that the detention camp is necessary to protect the United States’ national security interests.
June 21, 2007 at 3:21 am