tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13589532.post3385716663535450596..comments2023-10-09T04:11:47.358-07:00Comments on Not A Potted Plant: Treat A Criminal Like A CriminalBurt Likkohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060980744675990412noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13589532.post-70278750707234029202009-11-17T15:28:36.146-08:002009-11-17T15:28:36.146-08:00Booth never got a trial. He was shot during his f...Booth never got a trial. He was shot during his flight from justice, about two weeks after he shot President Lincoln.<br /><br />Mary Surratt got a trial -- yes, before a military tribunal, but the shooting between North and South hadn't yet come to a stop despite Lee's surrender at Appomattox.<br /><br />Nor have I ever argued that a military tribunal would <i>necessarily</i> be an inappropriate way to try a real terrorist, someone like Khalid Sheik Mohammed, given that the evidence in such a case necessarily involves very sensitive and classified information -- although my <i>preference</i> would be a regular Article III Court if that were at all possible. No right is absolute, and that includes the right to a public trial in an Article III court.<br /><br />Mary Surratt <i>received due process</i>. She was represented by a very competent lawyer, a man who had previously served as the Attorney General of the United States. Her lawyer cross-examined the witnesses against her and he demanded that the government prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. There is no reason to think that the judges on the tribunal were biased against her; in fact, they deliberated on her case for two days before convicting. Surratt was sentenced according to guidelines of universal application, and after an expedited petition for clemency was presented to, reviewed, and rejected by President Johnson.<br /><br />I'm not entirely sure that a military tribunal was necessary for Surratt, but I do not have a <i>categorical</i> objection to military tribunals in appropriate cases, assuming that the tribunal provides due process to the defendant.<br /><br />Major Hasan's case, however, would not seem to require that a jury review any classified information. There is no "compelling governmental interest" that would indicate the need for an extraordinary military tribunal; there is no <i>principled</i> reason to deviate from the Constitution in his case.Burt Likkohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16060980744675990412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13589532.post-28502338167707458412009-11-17T14:54:13.652-08:002009-11-17T14:54:13.652-08:00Abraham Lincoln, alleged collaborators, with John ...Abraham Lincoln, alleged collaborators, with<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wilkes_Booth" rel="nofollow"> John Wilkes Booth</a>, Mary Surratt were tried before a military tribunal and were hanged in the Old Arsenal Penitentiary on July 7, 1865.zzihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933063994246150989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13589532.post-22512003862930745722009-11-14T15:14:59.665-08:002009-11-14T15:14:59.665-08:00A Symbol of American Greatness<a href="http://dsadevil.blogspot.com/2009/11/symbol-of-american-greatness.html" rel="nofollow">A Symbol of American Greatness</a>David Schraubhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04946653376744012423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13589532.post-73251146846643190742009-11-14T12:35:56.183-08:002009-11-14T12:35:56.183-08:00TACLAC
http://tinyurl.com/taclacTACLAC<br /><br />http://tinyurl.com/taclaczzihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933063994246150989noreply@blogger.com