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The Progressive

NewsWire

A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Contact:

Mandy Simon, (202) 675-2312; media@dcaclu.org

Senate Votes Down Amendment Obstructing Transfer Of Detainees To Federal Criminal Courts

Vote Bolsters Attorney General’s Plan To Try Detainees In Federal Courts

WASHINGTON

The Senate today voted to table, thus defeating, an amendment to the Military
Construction, Veterans' Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations
Act for Fiscal Year 2010 that would have undermined the Obama
administration's plan to prosecute Guantanamo detainees in federal
criminal courts. The amendment, S.A. 2774, was offered by Senator James
Inhofe (R-OK) and would have prohibited the Department of Defense from
using funds under the bill to modify or construct any facilities in the
United States to hold any of the Guantanamo detainees, including any
detainees charged, tried or convicted in Article III federal criminal
courts. The Inhofe amendment failed by a vote of 57 to 43.

Last
week, Attorney General Eric Holder announced the transfer of the
alleged conspirators in the September 11, 2001 attacks to federal
courts, the same courts where the Department of Justice regularly tries
and convicts defendants charged with international terrorism crimes.
The following can be attributed to Christopher Anders, ACLU Senior Legislative Counsel:
"The
Senate did the right thing by voting down this amendment and made clear
its support for the attorney general's tough decision to try detainees
in our federal criminal courts and to restore the rule of law. The
Senate today rejected fear-mongering and political grandstanding, and
recognized that justice can only be served in our tried and true
courts. Congress is beginning to see that the right way to keep us safe is to uphold the rule of law and comply with the Constitution."

The American Civil Liberties Union was founded in 1920 and is our nation's guardian of liberty. The ACLU works in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.

(212) 549-2666