Civilizing terror: Holder vs Senators

Byron York is wondering: Did Holder stiff Senate on Justice Dept. lawyers who defended jihadis? regarding the fact that the AG’s law firm was a primary player in the legal shananigans that have held up hearings and trials for the Gitmo detainees.

The neocon takes note of a Senator’s training and experience in how Lindsey Graham gives Eric Holder a lesson in the law.

Eric Posner wonders Why Has Holder Decided to Try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a Civilian Court? at the Volokh Conspiracy.

Then what is the answer? It is surely this: the Obama administration has decided to offer a two-tiered system of justice. We might call them the “high-quality” (civilian) tier and “low-quality” (military) tier. The high-quality approach offers greater accuracy; the low-quality approach offers less accuracy. The Obama administration will use the high-quality system against people when it has a strong case, and the low-quality system against people when it has a weak case.

John at Powerline describes a Leahy Lunacy, which is a case in trying to understand denial and rationalizing of a difficult reality.

if we capture Osama bin Laden the first things we’ll have to do are read him his rights and get him a free lawyer. When Lindsay Graham pointed this out to Eric Holder in yesterday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Holder feebly responded that maybe we wouldn’t have to Mirandize bin Laden because the evidence against him is “overwhelming.”

This answer was essentially nonsensical, but Pat Leahy amplified it this morning, in a further effort at spin control

Then there is the President who is providing assurances that the defendant will be found guilty and properly punished – which sounds good but has implications for pre-judgment that go well beyond those raised about the distinctions between civil trials and military tribunals.

Questions are being raised. The responses do not indicate a high degree of integrity in having thought through the implications and the reasons for the actions that raised the questions. This is a phenomena to investigate.