O’Reilly Upset Over 9/11 Trials: ‘I Don’t Care About The Constitution!’

[cal04]

Since Attorney General Eric Holder announced his decision to move five Guantanamo Bay detainees — including Khalid Sheikh Mohammad — to New York for civilian trials on charges related to the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, Fox News personalities have been up in arms. Karl Rove called it a “long-standing plot” by the Obama administration’s “left-wing lawyers who do not love America.”

But last night on Fox, the network’s top legal analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano — who has been known to disagree with Fox’s right-wing narratives on legal issues — disputed that view, citing the constitutional right to be tried in the place where the crime has been committed. “I don’t care about the Constitution!” host Bill O’Reilly responded. The debate continued:

O’REILLY: So why is he entitled to come to New York City to be tried in the civilian criminal court if he’s arrested in Pakistan?

NAPOLITANO: Because the document you don’t want me to talk about says when the government is going to prosecute you, it must do so in the place where the alleged harm was caused.

Later in the program, Fox analyst Brit Hume said he’d “been scouring the columns of various people opining about this to see if somebody makes a good argument for doing it,” adding, “And I really haven’t heard one.” Hume then noted Napolitano’s opinion and said, “I’m not certain I agree with that.” Watch it:

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/11/17/oreilly-trials-constitution/


Holder’s “bold and principled” decision was “a victory for the rule of law and the American system of justice,” the Center for American Progress’ Ken Gude said.

“If you are accused, you get to know what you know what you are accused of, you get to face your accusers, and you get to defend yourself in court, and then you face a trial and a conviction. This is who we are as a system,” said Tom Andrews, director of the National Campaign to Close Guantanamo. “The Taliban? You can get a trial and a beheading in a few hours. That’s not our system of justice.”

Read more about Holder’s decision in today’s Progress Report.
http://pr.thinkprogress.org/2009/11/pr20091117/index.html

[FiveGoodMen]

1. If Americans were sane, that quote would be the instant end of his career.

Instead, we are fucked.

We will not save ourselves.

No one else will save us.

It's over.

[ixion]

2. I got news for you Brit and Bill, it doesn't matter one whit what you think or want

it's called the Rule of Law, and has been in place since the freakin' Magna Carta, so shut the hell up.

[dflprincess]

3. Sure the Magna Carta - who wrote that?

Brits, that's who (and not Humes). They're not 'Muricans - therefore it is meaningless.

:sarcasm:

[dana_b]

4. the truth comes out!!

that's good Bill... get it out of your system.

[ItNerd4life]

5. Neither side knows what they are talking about.

The way this is supposed to be handled is with a Military Tribunal.

For the right-wingers to ignore this and then also ignore the constitution, is pathetic.

[Cirque du So-What]

6. If you're such an 'expert,' why aren't you advising all the know-nothings?

Have you got a JD in constitutional law? Criminal law? Military justice? You must have something in your background that entitles you to make a summary judgment on such a contentious issue. I mean, you just slashed right to the meat of the matter, telling us all just how it's supposed to be - without so much as an explanation of how you came to this conclusion - no background, no precedents, no citations - it's brilliant. Brilliant, I tell ya! Just cut off all discussion at the knees without providing an opportunity for dissent! I just gotta say, it's brilliant. Hundreds of years of jurisprudence turned into piles of shit with just one sweeping statement: 'BECAUSE I SAY SO!' Brilliant!

By some strange quirk of fate it turns out that you're NOT a lawyer, perhaps you can enlighten the rest of us what legal giants provide the basis for your stance. Could it perhaps be the law firm of Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck & O'Reilly? I hear that's how they come down on the issue.

[damntexdem]

7. Well, he can at times blurt out the truth.

He truly doesn't care about the Constitution.