| New attorney general opposes habeas corpus { October 18 2007 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active) http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/18/1418244http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/18/1418244
Thursday, October 18th, 2007 Attorney General Nominee Michael Mukasey Defends Bush Admin on Post-9/11 Measures, But Vows Independence
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SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN: I’d like to ask a question about executive power, and in Padilla v. Bush, you upheld the President's power to detain Jose Padilla indefinitely, even though he was a United States citizen seized on United States soil without being charged with any crime. Under an existing statute, no American citizen could be detained "except pursuant to an act of Congress."
You ruled that the Authorization for the Use of Military Force was an act of Congress and was written broadly enough to authorize Padilla's detention. The Second Circuit disagreed, saying that the AUMF did not authorize the President to detain American citizens like Padilla who were seized in the United States. The Supreme Court did not reach the issue, and it remains unresolved.
As Attorney General, will you advise the President that the AUMF authorizes him to seize United States citizens on US soil and detain them indefinitely without charge?
MICHAEL MUKASEY: I think that the authority of the President to seize US citizens and detain them without charge, leaving aside for a moment where that happens, was in fact sustained in Hamdi. The court in Hamdi did rule that the President had authority to, among other things, seize and detain American citizens captured on the field of battle. Of course, that person was captured in, I believe, in Afghanistan.
SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN: I’m talking about the United States.
MICHAEL MUKASEY: Hamdi left open the question of where the battlefield is and who defines the battlefield. And I certainly can’t say that, as of now, there is clear authority authorizing what I thought there was authority to authorize in Padilla.
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