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Tuesday 1 May 2007

Prior to 9/11, if a criminal defendant, including one accused of terrorism, was found not guilty by a federal jury, he would walk out of court a free man. That was the whole idea behind the right of trial by jury that was guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment. However, the government’s post-9/11 “enemy-combatant” doctrine, which was upheld by the conservative Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Padilla’s habeas corpus proceedings, revolutionized our judicial system by giving the military the power to take Americans (and foreigners) into custody as “enemy combatants,” including those who have been acquitted of terrorism charges by a duly selected and impaneled jury in federal district court. Jacob G. Hornberger

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