WASHINGTON, March 29 (UPI) -- The U.S. Military Commissions Act has seven key flaws, the head of a key congressional committee said Thursday.
"Last year, when Congress passed this law, I argued that the most important task before the Congress was to design a system that could withstand legal scrutiny and would be found to be constitutional. For that reason, I proposed that we expedite the ability of the courts to review the constitutionality of various provisions of the bill, which I find to be legally suspect," said Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo.
Skelton is chairman of the Armed Services Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, and made his remarks during a House hearing Thursday on the Military Commissions Act of 2006.
"There are at least seven potential constitutional defects," Skelton said. "First, it seems clear to me and many others that the Act may be unconstitutionally stripping the federal courts of jurisdiction over habeas cases. Relatedly, the Act may violate the exceptions clause under article III of the Constitution by impermissibly restricting the Supreme Court's review. Third, it is questionable whether the Supreme Court would uphold a system that purports to make the president the final arbiter of the Geneva Convention.
"Fourth, the provisions regarding coerced testimony may be challenged under our Constitution. Fifth, the Act contains very lenient hearsay rules which rub up against the right of the accused to confront witnesses and evidence. Sixth, the act may be challenged on equal protection and other constitutional grounds for how it discriminates against the detainees for being aliens," the congressman said.
"Lastly, Article I of the Constitution prohibits ex post facto laws. That is what this act may have created," he said.
