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CNN Live At Daybreak

While Most Americans Support Military Tribunals, Opposition Exists in Senate

Aired November 29, 2001 - 06:36   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Looking at what other Americans think, now published polls saying nearly 60 percent of Americans support secret military tribunals to try suspected non citizen terrorists. That issue, though, does have critics on both sides of the aisle in the Senate and our Bruce Morton has more on that story from Washington.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- since September 11th the --

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BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Senate Judiciary Committee is exploring recent administration action authorizing military tribunals for foreigners instead of regular trials in civil courts, asserting it can sometimes eased off on conversations with lawyers. Justice says sure we can.

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MICHAEL CHERTOFF, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL: Every step that we have taken satisfies the Constitution and federal law as it existed both before and after September 11th.

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SENATOR ARLEN SPECTER (R-PA) : And there is a very heavy burden ...

MORTON (voice-over): The senators don't all agree.

SPECTER: It was surprising to me that the attorney general did not consult with any member of this committee.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SENATOR RUSS FEINGOLD (D-WI) : There really are serious questions as to the legitimacy and the effectiveness and even the constitutionality of several of the steps that the administration is carrying out.

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MORTON: The president has defenders, too, of course.

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SENATOR JEFF SESSIONS (R-AL): And I'm confident had you not moved aggressively that we may well of had additional Americans dead, maimed, and wounded in this country as a result of further terrorist acts.

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MORTON: Many senators just wished they'd been asked.

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SENATOR CHARLES SCHUMER (D-NY) : I would just urge greater consultation with us for the good of the country and for the good of the product.

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MORTON: The expert witnesses, former attorney generals, professors, disagree among themselves.

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WILLIAM BARR, FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL: I think there's no doubt that the president was well within his constitutional authority to promulgate this order as his predecessors took similar steps.

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NEAL KATYAL, FORMER EMPLOYEE OF JUSTICE DEPARTMENT: The president's order for military tribunals and the attorney general's attorney client regulation both contain serious constitutional flaws.

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MORTON (voice-over): Critics say military tribunals aren't fair. They're secret. Proof beyond a reasonable doubt may not be the standard, dubious evidence may get in, there's no appeal. Backers say we've done it before. Did it with Nazi saboteurs in World War II and the Supreme Court upheld it. And the voters, a National Public Radio- Kaiser-Kennedy School of Government Poll shows that 64 percent favor military tribunals for non-citizens suspected of terror while just 27 percent oppose them.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're under a war situation now and things are different.

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MORTON: And the senators, the real Judiciary Committee main event will come next week when John Ashcroft, a committee member when he was a senator, returns as attorney general to defend what his administration has done.

Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington.

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