The Judiciary is No Place to Make National Security Decisions

Conn Carroll / December 28, 2009

Politico reports today:

Growing evidence that the Nigerian man charged with trying to blow up a commercial airliner as it landed in Detroit Friday spent time in Yemen and may have been fitted with customized, explosive-laden clothing there could complicate the U.S. government’s efforts to send home more than 80 Yemeni prisoners currently at Guantanamo Bay.

Since Yemenis represent almost half of the roughly 200 remaining prisoners at Gitmo, new hurdles to their resettlement could spell more trouble for President Barack Obama’s plan to close the island prison while transferring a limited number of detainees to a prison in the U.S.

Whatever links Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab may or may not have with Yemen, it is Congress and the Obama administration that is to blame for the lack of coherent rules and procedures for handling terrorism suspects. As Benjamin Wittes and Jack Goldsmith reported last week, key members of the judiciary are now pleading with the President and Congress to do their jobs: (more…)