The Legal Docket  

Eric Lichtblau, New York Times writer, author of Bush's Law: The Remaking of American Justice and winner of a 2006 Pulitzer Prize for national reporting, joins Kwass and Jay to discuss the 9/11 terror case. After over a six-month hiatus, The Legal Docket returns with its 6th episode hoping to be as justifiable as was Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to prosecute Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the 9/11 mastermind, in a Manhattan federal courtroom. This Docket discusses how defense lawyers for Mr. Mohammed and four accused 9/11 co-conspirators will challenge the government to make the death sentence in this case less justifiable by attempting to sway jurors on the negative ramifications of capital punishment. Speaking of justifiability, Lichtblau and the hosts breakdown how complex the due process rights of "enemy combatants" are in comparison to those of defendants in military commission trials, as five other detainees linked to terrorist attacks will be tried that way in a location to be named later. With justifiability being this week's theme, Lichtblau, Kwass and Jay dissect the impact of individual's rights on the government's proceedings that could even make a life prison sentence more justifiable for the detainees being tried. As we've all seen lately, the Barack Obama administration have consistently modified their justifiability of keeping Guantanamo Bay open by declaring particular detainees "too dangerous" to release and modifying the military commission system; this week's debate concerns who's/what's generates more justification for the United States government and the due process of law system: Prosecuting Guantanamo detainees in civilian courts or reserving the right to subject "enemy combatants" to military tribunals? The Obama administration has been adamant in altering the Justice system, so now is their chance to prove it!!!