Former Chief Prosecutor for the Guantanamo Bay military commissions Col. Morris Davis (Ret.), who is currently suing the Library of Congress alleging he was fired for writing op-eds critical of the decision to revive Bush-era military commissions for Gitmo detainees, slams the administration over remarks he argues compromised the integrity of two high-profile trials. President Obama commenting on the guilt or innocence of Khalid Sheik Mohammed and Bradley Manning, Morris says, harms their ability to get a fair hearing:
Will the attorneys and the judges exercise independent professional judgment, or will independence bend to the express will of their superiors? Will the officers on the board at Mohammed's military commission deliberate over the law and evidence, or will they just do what the administration expects them to do? Will we be able to tell now that the administration has made its position public?
Pandering, hubris and contempt for "quaint" legal principles are as unacceptable in the current administration as they were in the last. It is the notorious cases with unsympathetic defendants such as Manning and Mohammed where America's example speaks loudest. These trials will say as much about us as it does about them.
When the judicial process becomes a stage for political theater — when justice appears to be scripted rather than blind — we have lost sight of the values we purport to be fighting to defend.
I wouldn't go as far as Davis, but I do think the president should refrain from commenting on the guilt or innocence of the accused, particularly in high-profile cases like the two he's citing.
