Posted on 11/26/2009 4:16:39 AM PST by IbJensen
CNSNews.com) – Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) told CNSNews.com that civilian courts are well-suited to prosecute al Qaeda terrorists and that "if people don't believe in our system, maybe they ought to go somewhere else.”
Conrad also dismissed a question about the rights of terrorists captured on foreign battlefields and the rules of evidence in terms of a civilian court trial as not serious.
Attorney General Eric Holder announced on Nov. 13 that five suspects in the 9/11 attacks would be tried in a civilian court in New York City instead of facing a military trial.
On Capitol Hill on Nov. 19, CNSNews.com asked Conrad: “We’re going to have a civilian trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. If our troops--the evidence against him is going to be found in Afghanistan, there on the battlefield--if our troops need to enter a house and they think that there’s evidence there, should they have to establish probable cause and get a search warrant from a judge first?”
Conrad said: “You’re not being serious about these questions, are you?”
CNSNews.com: “[Yes], in a civilian trial. If I was on trial or you were on trial, that would have to be [done].”
Conrad responded, “We have tried terrorists in our courts and done so very successfully in the past and that is our system. So if people don’t believe in our system, maybe they ought to go somewhere else. I believe in America.”
The Fourth Amendment, which protects all defendants in civilian courts, prohibits the government from searching or seizing evidence without first establishing probable cause and obtaining a warrant--based on that probable cause--from a judge.
The Fourth Amendment reads: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
According to the Supreme Court in Weeks v. United States (1914), the government cannot use evidence obtained without a search warrant.
“The tendency of those who execute the criminal laws of the country to obtain conviction by means of unlawful seizures and enforced confessions, the latter often obtained after subjecting accused persons to unwarranted practices destructive of rights secured by the Federal Constitution, should find no sanction in the judgments of the courts, which are charged at all times with the support of the Constitution, and to which people of all conditions have a right to appeal for the maintenance of such fundamental rights,” the Court found.
This should be broadly advertised in order to get rid of this weasel!
“The people” doesn’t refer to outsiders, to those not a part of our system.
These idiots really want the Bastille stormed.
But, I’m willing to wager that they are not prepared to put their lives at risk.
People like Conrad would simply attempt to switch sides.
Wasn’t this fine patriot one of the Senators who got the sweetheart mortgage deal from Countrywide finance, along with Sandwich Dodd?
This looks like an invitation for Texas to secede.
Kent Conrad, Byron Dorgan and Earl Pomeroy come to mind for starters. Then there is oil; lots and lots and lots of oil folowed by Red Durham wheat which supplies most of the pasta mills in the world.
Don't blame North Dakota for these three communists. They are financed by out of state interests. About 90% of their campaign funds come from North Dakota. They are elected by the socialists from Fargo, Grand Forks and Bismark. If every one in the rest of the state voted against them but they carry those three towns, they win. Help us stamp out their brand of socialism; stop the flow of funds to the DNC.
About 90% of their campaign funds come from OUTSIDE of North Dakota.
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