Military Commissions Are Military Commissions Legal It Essay

PAGES
3
WORDS
999
Cite

Military Commissions Are Military Commissions Legal?

It was on November 13th 2001 when then President George Bush issued a military order establishing military commissions to try captured terrorists. Critics immediately claimed that these military commissions were unconstitutional and that the president lacked the authority to create them. Contrary to popular belief, military commissions have existed in the United States for most of it's history and used to try foreign nationals for war crimes. And in the case of al Qaeda operatives captured on the battlefield, the legal rules and protections that have evolved are similar to those found in civilian courts. However, the Bush administration lacked Congressional authority to set up these commissions, they violated the Military Code of Justice, and the differences between the rights and protections provided for in civilian courts and these military commissions are too great to overcome the question of legality.

President Bush's lawyers point to the WWII Quirin case of several German saboteurs where the Supreme Court decided that trying these German nationals in front of military commissions was consistent with the president's authority. In the Quirin case, however, Congress had declared war and therefore gave its approval for the president to take such actions. (Rivkin, 2006, p.124) But in the wake of September...

...

The military commissions used in the Quirin case may have been completely legal, but this is not the case with President Bush's military order of November 13, 2001.
It is true that military commissions and civilian courts share a number of similarities; most particularly the fact that a defendant is innocent until proven guilty, has the right against self-incrimination, are open to the public, and has an appeals process. (Bravin, 2001) But there were some very important discrepancies, and these make all the difference as to whether the military commissions are legal. Firstly, military commissions are composed entirely of military officers, people who have sworn to defend this nation with their lives. It is not entirely possible for such people, with such a strong dedication to the nation and its defense, to be completely objective. After all, the defendants are accused enemies of the Unites States, the very people these military officers are at war with.

Secondly, while these defendants are given access to defense attorneys, these attorneys are also military officers and are appointed by the court. If the defendant seeks an…

Sources Used in Documents:

References

Bravin, Jess (28 Dec. 2001). Draft of Tribunal Rules Would Require Public

Trials, Death-Penalty Unanimity. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1009494756552367280.html

Hagle, Timothy. Trying Terrorists: Military Commissions and the American

Legal System. University of Iowa. Retrieved from http://www.uiowa.edu/~030116/158/articles/milcomm4b.pdf
Hamdan v Rumsfeld. 548 U.S. 557. (2006). Retrieved from http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/05pdf/05-184.pdf
Retrieved from http://www.bu.edu/law/central/jd/organizations/journals / international/volume24n1/documents/123-146.PDF


Cite this Document:

"Military Commissions Are Military Commissions Legal It" (2013, April 17) Retrieved April 26, 2024, from
https://www.paperdue.com/essay/military-commissions-are-military-commissions-101212

"Military Commissions Are Military Commissions Legal It" 17 April 2013. Web.26 April. 2024. <
https://www.paperdue.com/essay/military-commissions-are-military-commissions-101212>

"Military Commissions Are Military Commissions Legal It", 17 April 2013, Accessed.26 April. 2024,
https://www.paperdue.com/essay/military-commissions-are-military-commissions-101212

Related Documents

Without the integrity to understand the importance of proper maintenance, a soldier may well be risking the health and safety environment for himself and others, not to mention risking the success of a task or mission (Army 2-33). A leader of integrity is well aware of the Army Values and how important they are in defining character traits that aid in the development of discipline and the ability to maintain

Commission Report There's a substantial gap between the notions presented by the 9/11 Commission on inadequate imagination and its suggested solutions. It's unlikely that the primary modifications can help create analytical solutions in a limited amount of time. The advancement of national intelligence centres is really a pricey solution and idea that rests on impractical belief in the impartiality and just approach of the policymakers. The requirement of a bigger and

Military Commission Act 2006 was passed by the U.S. government to provide the law enforces additional powers and certain immunities while dealing with terrorists. However, this law has drawn severe criticism as well as a fair share of support from various sections of the society. The main argument against the law is that it has the potential for the government to suspend the right of habeas corpus for non-citizens which

Legal Reasoning A in His
PAGES 5 WORDS 1647

A d) the theoretical approach to legal reasoning that casts the most helpful light on judicial reasoning in determining whether or not evidence derived from torture should be admissible is legal positivism, as developed by H.L.A. Hart. Hart's approach to legal positivism focused strongly on the relationship between the law and morality. One would be hard pressed to describe an area where the relationship between moral behavior and the law

" (Lee, 2009) Core labor standards are stated by Lee (2009) to be "more or less the basic labor rights: that is, the International Labor Organization (ILO) core labor standards that have been confirmed by the UN Global Compact and adopted or discussed by the GRI and ISO 26000." (Lee, 2009) Those standards include the following: (1) a guarantee of the three labor rights (organizing, collective bargaining, and collective action) based

Woman in the Military Although their numbers are still disappointingly small, military women now serve with distinction in every service. The women who served in Operation Desert Storm flew planes into enemy territory, fired weapons, commanded combat support units, ferried troops in to the combat zone and carried them fuel and supplies. At the end of the war, Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney applauded the women's performance: "They did a bang