Mukasey: ‘I Would Not Advise’ Granting Habeas Rights ‘Beyond Those That Detainees Already Have’

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/10/17/mukasey-habeas/

Mukasey: ‘I Would Not Advise’ Granting Habeas Rights ‘Beyond Those That Detainees Already Have’

One year ago today, the Military Commissions Act of 2006 suspended habeas corpus for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo and other offshore prisons. “At the urging of the Bush administration, the Republican-controlled Congress last year voted to sharply limit detainee access to the courts.”

In the confirmation hearing of Attorney General nominee Mike Mukasey, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) — who previously threatened to filibuster the Habeas Corpus Restoration Act — asked Mukasey whether he would restore habeas corpus to “unlawful enemy combatants” held in U.S. detention centers.

Mukasey said he would not support granting habeas corpus rights to detained prisoners at Gitmo:

GRAHAM: Would you advise the President of the United States to allow unlawful enemy combatants to have habeas rights, to grant them habeas corpus rights at Guantanamo Bay?

MUKASEY: I would not advise the President to grant rights beyond those that they already have.

Watch it at link~

Graham asked if Mukasey “associates” himself with former Attorney General Robert Jackson’s statement that expanding legal rights to detainees would cause a “conflict between judicial and military opinion highly comforting to enemies of the United States.” “Yes I do,” affirmed Mukasey.

Earlier in today’s hearings, Mukasey refused to say whether he would recommend to Bush that Guantanamo be shut down. Unfortunately, it appears that many of Alberto Gonzales’ punitive detainee policies will continue under Mukasey’s Justice Department.

UPDATE: Today, Amnesty International took out a full-page ad in USA Today commemorating the Military Commissions Act’s one-year anniversary. View the ad HERE:

http://www.amnestyusa.org/pdf/10_17USA_Today.pdf

That seems to be the trend.

of Keisler.

Peter Keisler, ace criminal and BFEE toady.

8 things you need to know about Peter Keisler:


Keisler was a co-founder of the Federalist Society;

The Federalist Society was a check box in Goodling's evaluation of U. S. Attorneys;

Keisler oversaw the Administration's fight against habeas corpus for Guantanamo;

Keisler allegedly interfered with the Tobacco conspiracy trial;

Keisler received a recess appointment at age 24;

Keisler testified against extending whistle blower protections using arguments contradicting existing federal statutes;

Keisler defended secrecy for all Warrantless Surveillance info, arguing that even confirmation or denial of its existence threatens national security;

Keisler defended the Interior Department in Cobell v. Norton - a tour de force of legal maneuvering and alleged DOJ obstruction of justice.

http://scoop.epluribusmedia.org/story/2007/9/19/204313/...

I'm very leery of Mukasey but at least he is NOT a bushco insider and has shown some independence from the admin in the Padilla case when he ruled for Padilla. I was alarmed by many of his answers today and I thought the Senate Dems were all disappointing in their perfunctory questioning, BUT; I want Keisler out, and the sooner the better.

Letting him stay in as Acting AG, simply gives Keisler more time to add to damage he's undoubtedly done in the last month. It's not too hard to figure that he's been keeping the shredders at Justice occupied 24/7.