The American Spectator

Reader Mail

p> PREVENTIVE DETENTION br> Re: Robert A. Levy's Yaser Hamdi and Congress : /p>

Mr. Levy, at my count you have just gutted the Amend. IV, V, VI & VIII. The problem with your argument is the following. The same branch of government that is making the charges is also presenting it's argument for closing the public process in the detention of the suspect. A direct situation that caused our forefathers to rebel against the crown.

p>It is odd that in this day and time, the government finds it necessary to shroud in secrecy the means by which they detain a suspect. We fought WWII without such mechanisms. Surely the government with all its resources can make its case without resorting to judicial trickery. Or is the Justice Dept. so incompetent they lack the facility to prosecute cases? br> -- John McGinnis /p> p> Robert A. Levy replies: br> The terms "unreasonable" seizures (Amend. IV), "due" process (Amend. V), "speedy" trial (Amend. VI), and "cruel" punishment (Amend. VIII) do not, in my view, foreclose the type of congressionally-enacted regime that I suggested in my article. That regime guarantees, after no more than 30 days of preventive detention, a public (not secret) hearing with access to counsel, among other safeguards. /p>

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