Law review article on the constitutionality of the military commission

[L Verge]

(09-23-2018 08:06 AM)mikegriffith1 Wrote:  To me this seems like an obvious, open-and-shut case: You don't haul civilians into a military court when civilian courts are open and functioning. I mean, other than the handful of true believers in the military tribunal, are there any serious scholars who still argue that the tribunal was legitimate, much less fair and just?

Even back in the days when I accepted the traditional version of the assassination, I recognized that the conspirators did not receive a fair trial and that they should have been tried in a civilian court.

Of course, we now know that the military tribunal's prosecutors used a hefty amount of bought or coerced perjury and suppressed exculpatory evidence and other evidence that did not fit their narrative.

What is that saying? "In times of war, the law falls silent."

I have no legal mind whatsoever, but I believe that several prominent legal minds have told me in the past that there are still circumstances today in which military courts can hear cases involving civilian defendants. I also know (as I have previously stated on this forum) that shortly after 9/11, I received a phone call from someone in the Justice Department inquiring about the Lincoln Conspiracy Trial of 1865 and where to find the historical data.

Further, a friend of mine and of the Lincoln community today, The Honorable Frank J. Williams, retired Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island, was part of the investigation to determine the legal ramifications of establishing our current prison at Guantanamo and dealing with 21st-century militants of another country(ies) who had committed unspeakable crimes on many thousands of innocent civilians. I believe that Guantanamo is still an active prison?

Mike - If you had been an ordinary citizen of the Union in April of 1865, with no legal training, would you have stood up and demanded that those responsible for the assassination of Lincoln be tried in a civil court since they were civilians? Or, would you have termed them "enemy belligerents" serving the Confederacy (with which the U,S, was still at war)?