Only weeks after the September 11th attacks, Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer was among those proclaiming the loudest that al Qaeda suspects should not get civilian trials:
Sen. Charles Schumer’s (D – NY) support of the Obama administration’s use of the civil court system to try terrorist suspects is odd to say the least, considering how he saw this issue eight years ago. Immediately following attacks of September 11th, in December of that year, the Senate Judiciary Committee met to discuss the idea of prosecuting terrorists in military tribunals. According to the hearing’s transcript, Schumer was in favor of military tribunals to try terrorist suspects.:
There are also those prisoners of war who we have captured and will capture in Afghanistan and other countries who will receive a trial of some sort. It is clear we need to try those suspects in a forum that achieves two primary goals—two goals, I might add, that may not conflict. First, the Government must have the power to use even the most sensitive classified evidence against these suspects without compromising national security in any way, shape, or form. In addition, those who commit acts of war against the United States, particularly those who have no color of citizenship, don’t deserve the same panoply of due process rights that American citizens receive. Should Osama bin Laden be captured alive—and I imagine most Americans hope he won’t be captured alive. But if he is, it is ludicrous to suggest he should be tried in a Federal court on Center Street in Lower Manhattan.
My how times have changed.
