Emergencies, Military Tribunals, and the Constitution
by Jacob G. Hornberger (The Multiracial Activist)
(December 2001/January 2002)
President Bush has ordered that people he suspects of being “terrorists” will be tried before military tribunals rather than indicted and prosecuted in the customary judicial manner. Judges and juries (which will consist of the same people) will be appointed by the secretary of defense, trials will be held in secret, and convictions will be permitted on a two-thirds vote of the judges. Punishment will be swift, as the president’s order denies the accused the right to appeal the conviction to either the federal courts of appeals or the Supreme Court. (The president failed to announce whether he would permit the federal courts to determine the constitutionality of the order itself.
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