FC: President Bush says military tribunals will try civilian cases

[PRGormley at aol.com]

It's simple, maybe unethical and way off the moral high ground we claim to be
staking out but effective and legal under the US Constitution. Make sure you
check for any text that says these protections apply to non-citizens.  While
I am unqualified to comment on the national security aspect of these issues,
there certainly are security issues presented by them. I quote the US
Constitution, 14th Amendment:

Amendment XIV

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject
to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the
state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall
abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor
shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due
process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal
protection of the laws.


Under this reading, the rights accorded under our federal constitution are
not extended beyond US Citizens without regard to location of those citizens.
I read this to require treatment by the US of US citizens abroad the same as
in the US.

- Paul Gormley
criminal defense attorney in Massachusetts

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