WASHINGTON, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., might investigate new government plans to monitor communication between defense attorneys and their clients, and the status of 1,000 individuals detained by the government in the terrorism investigation.
The hearings come after Ashcroft has failed to respond to repeated requests from Congress for information on the detainees and the new policy on monitoring lawyer-client communication.
Leahy is likely to hold new hearings on both issues after Thanksgiving, Leahy's staff said Tuesday, reflecting Leahy's concern that Attorney General John Ashcroft might either trample the Constitution in his pursuit of terrorists, or abuse new authority Congress recently handed the government in a landmark anti-terrorism bill.
Judiciary Committee staff said Tuesday that Ashcroft has failed to supply information on the two subjects requested by Leahy and other lawmakers in two separate letters sent on Oct. 31 and Nov. 9.
"Since we provided you with new statutory authorities in the USA PATRIOT Act, I have felt a growing concern that the trust and cooperation Congress provided is proving to be a one-way street," Leahy wrote last week. Leahy added that he is "deeply troubled" by the lack of information about 1,000 individuals detained by the government "without trial and without specific criminal charges under your authority."
House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, R-Mich., and other Democrats also signed an Oct. 31 letter requesting information on the detainees, citing concern over reports, "that detainees have been denied their fundamental right to due process of law," and might have even "suffered death or serious bodily injury."
That letter notes the death of a Pakistani man late last month detained by law enforcement officials and found dead in his cell.
Congressional staff said Ashcroft has failed to respond to a series of pointed questions about the status of the detainees in response to that Oct. 31 letter as well.
In his Nov. 9 letter, Leahy also said new government regulations that would allow government prosecutors to eavesdrop on communications between defense attorneys and their clients could violate the Constitution.
"We are considering the possibility of holding hearings," one Judiciary Committee source confirmed.
Department of Justice officials did not return calls seeking comment.
