November 16, 2001: 11-16-01 -- Washington Update

Dear Friends,

Please ask our Tennessee Congressional Delegation to urge the President to rescind the military tribunal executive order and his attorney-client eavesdropping regulation. In addition, please urge our Delegation to call for Congressional "oversight hearings" and to assert its oversight authority to protect the Constitution."

Earlier this week, President Bush issued an executive order that would allow special military tribunals to try non-citizens charged with terrorism. Just 12 days earlier, the Administration issued a new regulation that gives the government the power to listen in on any conversation between a suspect and his attorney. Both measures threaten to essentially eviscerate key constitutional protections.

The impact of these measures will be far-reaching. But even more disturbingly, they come on the heels of a Justice Department announcement of a new plan to seek "voluntary" interviews with at least 5,000 non-citizens who entered the United States in the last two years.

Congress has already given the Administration virtually everything it asked for to fight terrorism. But in the days since a sweeping new anti-terrorism bill was signed into law, the Administration has continued to announce questionable policy after questionable policy. Congress must take action now to ensure that the President preserves the constitutionally guaranteed checks and balances that are so central to our democracy.

Talking Points to Urge Congress to Protect the Constitution

• The Administration has failed to show that a jury trial does not meet the needs of prosecuting terrorists. Military tribunals would authorize secret trials without a jury and without the requirement of a unanimous verdict. They would limit a defendant's opportunities to confront the evidence against him and to choose his own lawyer. What's worse, these important protections would be removed in a situation where the defendant could face the death penalty. This executive order must be rescinded to ensure due process rights.

• It is unnecessary for the government to eavesdrop on any conversation at anytime between a detained suspect and his attorney. There is already a long-standing exception to the attorney-client privilege when a judge rules that a communication is aimed at furthering criminal activity. The Bush Administration is seeking to do away with the judiciary's role in protecting due process rights. This new regulation must be revoked.

• The right to a trial by jury, to counsel and to due process of law are expressly guaranteed to every person in the United States by the Bill of Rights. At a time when our resolve as a free and just nation is being tested, Congress should ask the President to rescind the executive order and eavesdropping regulation. In addition, Congress must immediately hold hearings to question the Administration's new policies and to assert its oversight authority to protect the Constitution.

Many thanks for your vigilance to keep our country both safe and free.