Via Andrew Sullivan, the Washington Independent has a story by Daphne Eviatar about attempts to bring five of the 9/11 conspirators to trial in federal court. Naturally, there’s opposition:
The administration has promised to make its final decision on where to try the 9/11 suspects by Nov. 16. Fearing that the administration is inching toward bringing them to New York City or the Washington, D.C., area, opponents of trying high-level terrorists in U.S. federal courts are stepping up their efforts to keep the five men out of the United States for any purpose. On Oct. 9, Sen. Lindsey Graham said he’d attached an amendment to an appropriations bill that would prohibit the Obama administration from spending money on prosecuting and trying these five alleged terrorists in U.S. civilian federal courts.
Hmmm. Would this even be constitutional? Congress can do a lot through its appropriations power, but can it use that power to deny someone a trial in federal court? Any lawyer types care to chime in on this?
