Federal Courts Are the Best Venue for Terrorism Trials

In a letter to the editor in response to a news story in the Washington Post, our colleague Gabor Rona argues emphatically against reconstituting military commissions in any form. It is not okay to flout constitutional standards to convict people who might be found not guilty in fair trials where secret evidence and coerced confessions are excluded. Instead, as we have documented in our report In Pursuit of Justice: Prosecuting Terrorism Cases in the Federal Courts, our normal federal courts are up to the task:

The true road to effective counterterrorism passes through our normal federal courts, where the delivery of justice is sometimes complicated, expensive and time-consuming. That’s a small price to pay for an improved national security strategy that also restores our souls and our international legitimacy.