Posted on 07/01/2006 11:52:14 AM PDT by ncountylee
WASHINGTON -- Congress is moving quickly to begin writing legislation to allow the creation of military tribunals, reacting to a Supreme Court decision this week that repudiated the Bush administration's use of such tribunals to try Guantanamo detainees without authorization from Congress.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, said he would introduce legislation on the tribunals after the July Fourth recess, which extends through next week. Minority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, has said he wants to work with the White House on crafting a bill.
And Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, introduced a bill Thursday night, hours after the court's decision, that he said would balance the need for national security with the need for due process.
500 detainees
Not all lawmakers are sure that Congress should write new legislation. Some think civilian courts or courts-martial convened according to military law are sufficient to resolve the cases regarding the nearly 500 detainees held at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. "We should stay as close as possible to the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Geneva Convention," said Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the assistant Democratic leader and a member of the Judiciary Committee.
Durbin said it is not clear whether the military tribunals that the administration created would be able to continue.
"That is going to be the challenge, whether we can create a separate tribunal and meet the guidelines the Supreme Court set," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...
The parade of ego's will compete with Independence Day parades.
That SCOTUS ruling may turn out to be a good thing, if it pushes Congress to create an offical, workable process for dealing with those detainees.
Durbin reminds me of Daschle..full of it ...hope he
gts the ame fate as Tommike..Hahahahah...Jake
"guidelines that the supreme court set"...The almighty Supreme Court hath spoken..you better obey, you other branches of government!
Would've been nice if some of them had started writing a bill long in advance of this decision such as Judge Advocate General Lindsey Graham.
Don't hold your breath. He's safe in his seat. At least we know where this socialist is at.
If Harry Reid is cooperating I would be afraid, very afraid -- the dems will screw this up just to make some type of political points -- they have no interest to help dubya or the country
If they'd started long ago (just a few of them, a private undertaking, or even individual), they could've sprung it on the punks, yes?
The president needs to make a request of Congress while they are on recess. Left to themselves, the senate will probably screw it up. Dems like Durbin and Reid will try to spin this into "an unprecedented power grab by the executive that goes way beyond the findings of the supreme court". The president really doesn't have to ask for all that much, only that he wants Congress to codify the authority he (and the congress) thought he had already been granted.
Except that it will require the US to treat suspected terrorists within the Geneva convention. That will cause lots of headaches in the future.
you are right; if Congress has to vote on the tribunals, it puts the Dems in a great spot right before the election, side with America or side with al Qaida...sound familiar? of course, this will be a tough issue for them.
I don't know who wrote the headline but:
There is nothing in the article to indicate any action, fast or slow, by Congress or the Senate.
There is nothing in the article that indicates Frist's potential action, the only one mentioned other than Specter's, is fast. Well, maybe fast for a politician trying not to offend anyone.
I don't trust anything Specter does so anything he does may be worse than doing nothing.
Arlen Specter is the biggest pantload I have ever seen -- his loyalty to Bush is disgraceful -- especially after dubya went to bat for him in '04 -- he cannot be counted on
Perhaps the bill should include a work release program so that these "innocent bystanders to the war" could do gardening for Teddy Kennedy, light housekeeping for Nancy Pelosi and wash the windows at Hillary's Chapaqua mansion. Certainly some Congressional offices need the floors waxed.
Tells you something about both of them, doesn't it?
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