Holder Under Fire For Padilla Brief

Politico reports that conservative "critics of Attorney General Eric Holder’s handling of accused terrorists found a new issue on which to criticize him Wednesday – an amicus brief Holder signed on to urging the Supreme Court in 2004 to reject the Bush administration’s attempt to try Jose Padilla as an enemy combatant. Two former Bush administration officials said the brief’s acknowledgement that accused terrorists could go free if their cases were heard through the normal judicial process contradicted Holder’s public statements justifying the FBI’s reading Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the alleged underwear bomber, his Miranda rights. They also pointed out that Holder had not called the brief to the attention of the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearings... Padilla, a U.S. citizen, sued after he was held without charge as an enemy combatant. The Bush administration eventually dropped its attempt to try him as an enemy combatant and Padilla was eventually tried and convicted in civilian court. He is now serving a 17-year sentence in a Supermax prison. Holder didn’t mention the brief during his confirmation hearings to be Attorney General, even though the Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire required him to list all Supreme Court amicus briefs he was party to. His questionnaire lists briefs in only three cases: Miller-El v. Cockrell, Johnson v. Bush and D.C. and Fenty v. Heller."

“Now that Holder is attorney general, he no longer acknowledges the risks to national security of treating terrorists as criminals,” the two former Bush officials, Bill Burck, a former deputy White House counsel, and Dana Perino, the former White House Press Secretary, wrote. “Holder could never admit that now, of course.” Tweet