Christmas Day Bomber Belongs in Civilian Court: Military Has No Jurisdiction on Civilian Commercial Flights and the FBI Made the Arrest

The rape of the criminal justice system continues unabated.

Now that they’ve introduced legislation to bar funding for trials of Guantanamo Bay inmates in civilian courts, Constitutional shredders in Congress have targeted the Christmas Day bomber as well, saying he should be tried in a military court.

Bull honkey!

The military does not have any jurisdiction as the attempted bombing took place on a civilian airliner, in civilian airspace over an American city, not on a military flight, in military-controlled airspace or over an American military base.  Moreover, the arresting officers were FBI, who are also non-military law enforcement personnel.

The line between civilian law enforcement and military law enforcement clearly needs to be strengthened as the line separating the two, aka the Posse Comitatus Act, has been weakened via attempted acts of Congress and the previous Administration.  It was in response to Hurricane Katrina, and authorizations of Congress for President Bush to use troops in law enforcement in and around New Orleans as civil authority had broken down there.   These acts of Congress expired in 2008 and the line was tenuously re-established.

I have faith in our military, but not in our elected Constitution-shredding leaders, who don’t seem to have any issues trampling all over the Constitution that they are sworn to uphold.

The same Congress people who are yelling about the Christmas Day bomber being in civilian court should think twice before putting the military tribunals (which are considered illegal under international law) above those of the civilian criminal justice courts.

The military courts should handle military matters.  The Christmas Day bombing is a civilian matter, to be decided in civilian courts.  This man was not arrested on some distant battlefield under military control; he was arrested in Romulus, Michigan, home of Detroit Metro Airport, attempting to blow up a passenger jet.

The Constitution is the supreme law of the land, and anything that threatens the integrity of the Constitution should be banned out of existence and forgotten.

We dare not blur the lines of distinction in order to use enhanced torture methods.   That’s a slippery slope that has been barely kept in check to this point.