| 1 | House Memorial |
| 2 | A memorial to the Congress of the United States, urging |
| 3 | Congress to use its constitutional authority to prevent |
| 4 | the trial of enemy combatants from taking place in a |
| 5 | civilian courtroom. |
| 6 |
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| 7 | WHEREAS, on November 13, 2009, United States Attorney |
| 8 | General Eric Holder announced the trial of self-described |
| 9 | mastermind of 9/11 Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the other four |
| 10 | suspected 9/11 terrorists would be moved from a military court |
| 11 | in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to a civilian court in New York City |
| 12 | just blocks away from the World Trade Center attacks that cost |
| 13 | the lives of nearly 3,000 people, and |
| 14 | WHEREAS, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid Muhammad Salih |
| 15 | Mubarek Bin 'Attash, Ramzi bin al Shibh, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, and |
| 16 | Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi, known as the "Gitmo 5," all fit |
| 17 | the statutory definition of an "unprivileged enemy belligerent" |
| 18 | by having engaged in premeditated, politically motivated |
| 19 | violence against noncombatant civilian targets, and |
| 20 | WHEREAS, United States Attorney General Eric Holder has |
| 21 | also contemplated a civilian court trial in Washington, D.C., |
| 22 | for Riduan Isamuddin, better known as "Hambali," and potentially |
| 23 | other Guantanamo Bay detainees, and |
| 24 | WHEREAS, "Hambali" is suspected of the planning and bombing |
| 25 | of a Bali nightclub which killed 202 people, and |
| 26 | WHEREAS, the "Gitmo 5" or other enemy combatants would |
| 27 | likely use a highly publicized civilian trial in the United |
| 28 | States to their own political advantage, to mode themselves as |
| 29 | martyrs and spread their jihadist ideology both internationally |
| 30 | and domestically, and |
| 31 | WHEREAS, some independent observers will not discount the |
| 32 | possibility that civilian trials could make New York City, |
| 33 | Washington, D.C., or any other domestic locale an even larger |
| 34 | target, and |
| 35 | WHEREAS, we are a nation that is at war against terror and |
| 36 | should treat enemy combatants in that war as such, and |
| 37 | WHEREAS, trying any enemy combatants in a civilian court |
| 38 | would award foreign enemy combatants all the constitutional |
| 39 | rights due a United States citizen defendant accused of an |
| 40 | ordinary domestic crime, NOW, THEREFORE, |
| 41 |
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| 42 | Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 43 |
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| 44 | That Congress is urged to reject any efforts by the Justice |
| 45 | Department to try the "Gitmo 5" or any other enemy combatant in |
| 46 | federal court in New York City or any other domestic venue by |
| 47 | exercising its constitutional authority as set forth in Section |
| 48 | 1 of Article III of the United States Constitution which states: |
| 49 | "The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one |
| 50 | supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may |
| 51 | from time to time ordain and establish." |
| 52 | BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be |
| 53 | dispatched to the President of the United States, to the |
| 54 | President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the |
| 55 | United States House of Representatives, and to each member of |
| 56 | the Florida delegation to the United States Congress. |