Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee today, Attorney General Eric Holder said that the decision to try the 9/11 defendants in civilian court or military commissions had not been made:
I know you all have questions about the prosecution of those charged with plotting the 9/11 attacks. No final decision has been made about the forum in which Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-defendants will be tried.
As I've said from the outset, this is very a close call. It should be clear to everyone by now that there are many legal, national security and practical factors to be considered here. As a consequence, there are many perspectives on what the most appropriate and effective forum is. In making this decision, I can assure you that this Administration has only one paramount goal: to ensure that justice is done in this case. In the pursuit of justice, we will enforce the law and protect the American people.
When Sen. Herb Kohl asked when a decision would be made, Holder said that “New York is not off the table although we have to take into account the concerns of local officials in New York," adding that the decision would be made “in a number of weeks.”
Sen. Jeff Sessions said he was bothered by leaks from the White House that there might be a change of venue, suggesting that the White House was now politicizing the decision."It makes me a bit uneasy to have politicians discussing where the case ought to be tried," Sessions said, after months of criticizing Holder for choosing to try the 9/11 defendants in civilian court.
Sen. Diane Feinstein, meanwhile, had strong words for Holder's critics. Noting that most of the convictions of terrorists in civilian courts had occurred under the prior administration and that the military commissions had only convicted three people, she said, “I have not seen anything like it. The record is ignored.”
In what appeared to be an implicit rebuke to Sessions, Feinstein added that “I have come to the conclusion that a lot of the attacks are just to diminish you."
“I just want to urge you to remain strong in this respect. ... The record of convictions of terrorists in Article III courts in this country is unparalleled, and that is a fact,” Feinstein said
UPDATE: I just want to make clear that I actually agree with Sessions that the White House should not be making the decisions about how/when to try cases. I just don't think it's really all that sincere coming from Sessions, who has been criticizing the choice of venue for the 9/11 trials for political rather than substantive reasons for months.
-- A. Serwer
