WASHINGTON – Senator Chuck Grassley today joined a bipartisan group of senators to introduce legislation to keep the 9/11 terrorist from being tried in civilian courts on U.S. soil, instead of in a military tribunal. The bill, authored by Senator Lindsey Graham, would prohibit the use of federal funds for civilian trials of the 9/11 terrorists. The legislation comes on the heels of the administration’s bow to public pressure decision to move the trial of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed out of New York City.
“Congress set up Military Commissions exactly for these very circumstances. By trying known terrorists in civilian courts, we’re giving them more Constitutional rights than our own military men and women who might be court marshaled. It’s not fair to the men and women who are in harm’s way to protect America. It’s just ludicrous,” Grassley said. “The administration bowed to public pressure and apparently isn’t holding trials in New York City, but they haven’t ruled out trying terrorists as civilians altogether. We shouldn’t be having civilian trials for these enemy combatants at all.”
Grassley has been a vocal opponent of moving detainees to the United States. He has spoken out against the Administration’s efforts to house terrorists at the Thomsen Correction Center in Thomsen, Illinois and has instead advocated for the purchase of the Thomsen facility to house federal prisoners for economic development. Grassley has also opposed the additional security costs that some have projected at over $200 million a year for civilian trials.
Grassley, along with the Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has also urged Attorney General Eric Holder to determine who within the Department of Justice made the decision to treat the Christmas Day bomber as a criminal suspect, entitled to Miranda warnings and the right to counsel, rather than as a unprivileged enemy belligerent subject to military detention and a full opportunity to gain intelligence.
Grassley has also urged the Attorney General to fully answer questions he asked about conflicts of interest in detainee policies at the Justice Department. Grassley asked the questions at a November 18 Justice Department oversight hearing. His questions focused on what appear to be conflicts of interest arising from the prior representation of individual detainees, advocacy on behalf of groups of detainees, or advocacy on detainee policy by attorneys now employed at the Justice Department.