Former Clinton Administration Attorney General Janet Reno is filing paperwork with the courts to challenge that the Bush Administration is setting a dangerous precedent by trying terror suspects outside the court system. She is accompanied by 7 former justice department officials.
MyWayNews
It was the first time that Reno, attorney general in the Clinton administration, has spoken out against the administration's policies on terrorism detainees, underscoring how contentious the court fight over the nation's new military commissions law has become. Former attorneys general rarely file court papers challenging administration policy.
More below
"The government is essentially asserting the right to hold putative enemy combatants arrested in the United States indefinitely whenever it decides not to prosecute those people criminally - perhaps because it would be too difficult to obtain a conviction, perhaps because a motion to suppress evidence would raise embarrassing facts about the government's conduct, or perhaps for other reasons," the former Justice Department officials said.
Some of the eight attorneys named in the document are now in private practice and represent detainees at the military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Most served under President Clinton, though the list includes former U.S. Attorneys W. Thomas Dillard and Anton R. Valukas, who served under President Reagan.
"The existing criminal justice system is more than up to the task of prosecuting and bringing to justice those who plan or attempt terrorist acts within the United States - without sacrificing any of the rights and protections that have been the hallmarks of the American legal system for more than 200 years," the attorneys wrote.
This is all in regards to a specific case, that against suspected al-Qaida sleeper agent Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri. He was detained in the US while studying. He was arrested and set to face criminal charges until authorities designated him an enemy combatant, which then lead to his transfer to a US Naval base in South Carolina.