Quote:
Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop
If Congress denies funds to move people at Gitmo to another location within a federal court's jurisdiction, then it's pretty much impossible for the Administration to have the people tried in federal courts. I personally think it would a victory for the country to have these people tried in open courts, but Congress has decided otherwise. I don't think there's anything Obama can do about that.
I don't think you're right to say that we didn't have a legal basis to take people into custody. Congress gave the President some pretty extraordinary powers after 9/11.
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Last time I checked, his legal powers end at the border. He wasn't even acting pursuant to a declaration of war or congressional authority as prescribed by the War Powers Act.
And while Congress may have the authority to deny the Executive Branch the funds to move detainees within the borders of the US (in order to bolster the decision to deny them the right to effective counsel and due process), it doesn't have the power to order the President not to use funds to release those detainees who the administration itself has admitted cannot be tried, either because there was no evidence against them to begin with, or because the evidence was obtained under methods of interrogation that made it wholly unreliable, and send them home.
