[Welcome Senator Dodd. For the members, please limit yourself to one question for the Senator. He will try to be here until 4PM eastern. After that, some staffers will help with any follow-up questions you might have. Thanks you for your cooperation.- BooMan]
First and foremost I’d like to thank Martin for allowing me to visit BooMan Tribune to talk about “Restoring the Constitution Act of 2007.” I will be here for about 30 minutes answering your questions about the bill, or anything else you want to open for discussion. First, let me talk about the resolution and why I was inspired to introduce it during the lame-duck session of congress, and why I reintroduced it yesterday.
To watch the Senate pass the Military Commissions Act in September within days of the anniversary of the Nuremburg trials verdicts and negate our great principles and traditions in support of the rule of law was one of my saddest days in public service. The new Democratic majority in Congress has an obligation to repair the damage done by the Bush Administration to our international reputation and domestic traditions.
Here is what the Restoring the Constitution Act of 2007 aims to accomplish:
- It restores the writ of habeas corpus for individuals held in US custody.
- It narrows the definition of unlawful enemy combatant to individuals who directly participate in a zone of active combat against the United States, and to individuals who participated in attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001.
- It requires that the United States live up to its Geneva Convention obligations by deleting a prohibition in law that bars detainees from invoking Geneva Conventions as a source of rights at trial.
- It permits accused to retain qualified civilian attorneys to represent them at trial, or to choose self representation.
- It prevents the use of evidence in court gained through the unreliable and immoral practices of torture and coercion.
- It charges the military judge with the responsibility for ensuring that the jury is appraised of sources, methods and activities associated with acquiring out of court statements that if known to the jury would impact on the credibility of the statement, or alternatively that such statements are not introduced at trial.
- It empowers military judges to exclude hearsay evidence they deem to be unreliable.
- It authorizes the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces to review decisions by the military commissions.
- It limits the authority of the President to interpret the meaning and application of the Geneva Conventions and makes that authority subject to congressional and judicial oversight.
- It clarifies the definition of war crimes in statute to include certain violations of the Geneva Conventions.
- Finally, it provides for expedited judicial review of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 to determine the constitutionally of its provisions.
I recorded a brief video explaining in more detail the purpose of the bill. I’ve also invited individuals to become citizen co-sponsors of the resolution and respond to my video with one of your own. You can find that and more tools for participation at: http://Restore-Habeas.org
With that, I look forward to the discussion.
