Bush and American Justice

have been meaning to put this table up for a while. It was originally in The Economist July 12th 2003 issue in a table entitled "Perry Mason, this ain't". It compares the rights defendants have had in various trial venues against the rights that the Bush administration would give defendants who are considered 'enemy combatants' in his special 'military commissions'. See my 9/12/2002 entry for an example of an American citizen arrested on American soil being declared an 'enemy combatant'. In other words, this could be you.

Rights To:
US criminal Court
Terrorism Trials in North Ireland
South African apartheid
US court Martial
Bush's Military commission for Trying Suspected Terrorists
Civil Judge
yes
yes
yes
no
no
Choose own lawyer
yes
yes
yes
yes
no
Remain Silent
yes
yes
no
yes
yes
Open Trial
yes
yes
yes
no no
Jury Trial
yes
no
no
no
no
Lawyer-Client confidentiality
yes
yes
yes
yes
no
Know all evidence against you
yes
yes
yes
yes
no
Appeal to independent judge
yes
yes
yes
yes
no

While there may be arguments for changes in some court procedures due to the special threat of terrorists, the Bush administration does not appear to have made any serious attempt to find that compromise. Instead they have created kangaroo courts.
For those who are curious, the U.S. courts ordered the government to let Padilla meet with his lawyers. The government refused the order and the judge, rather than ordering the government to obey his order, decided to certify an appeal. Arguments have been filed in the appeal and the oral hearings should happen in 10/2003. This means that an American citizen, arrested on American soil has been put under arrest, denied right to an attorney, not been charged with anything, not allowed to meet with anyone for over 15 months. Welcome to Bush's America.
As for Zacarias Moussaoui, the basic facts I stated in my 07/15/2003 entry still hold true. The government has now refused two orders by the judge to let Moussaoui call the named witnesses. The government now wants the judge to dismiss all charges against Moussaoui. This would allow the government to either expedite its appeal of the judge's order to let Moussaoui interview the witnesses or allow the government to re-arrest Moussaoui as an 'enemy combatant' and charge him in a 'Military commission'. Here was the most enlightening discussion I could find of why the Judge has rejected the government's requests and what the government could have done to both protect national security and defend the constitution. The Judge's decision should come down next week.
Every vote against Bush is a vote for freedom and don't forget to pay your freedom insurance.

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