New WH Draft on Terror Trials

The Washington Post reports today on the latest Administration proposals for the creation of a new system for carrying out trials for terror suspects, noting that the draft plan "seeks to expand the reach and authority of such 'commissions' to include trials, for the first time, of people who are not members of al-Qaeda or the Taliban and are not directly involved in acts of international terrorism, according to officials familiar with the proposal." The new system " would also allow the secretary of defense to add crimes at will to those under the military court's jurisdiction." Defendants could also be tried in absentia.

This draft plan will be taken up at two Senate hearings today. I continue to maintain that the Administration ought to work this proposal into the framework already set up by the Uniform Code of Military Justice, but it will be interesting to see what news comes out of the Senate hearings (one of which will be aired at 2:00 on C-SPAN). Watch Warner, McCain, and Graham in particular.