HM 1609

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 terrorists from taking place in a civilian
5	courtroom.
6
7	WHEREAS, on November 12, 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, and Mustafa Ahmed al
16	Hawsawi, known as the "Gitmo 5," all fit the statutory
17	definition of an "unprivileged enemy belligerent" by having
18	engaged in premeditated, politically motivated violence against
19	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 terrorists would likely use
27	a highly publicized civilian trial in the United States to their
28	own political advantage, to mode themselves as martyrs and
29	spread their jihadist ideology both internationally and
30	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 terrorist in a civilian court would
38	award foreign terrorists all the constitutional rights due a
39	United States citizen defendant accused of an ordinary domestic
40	crime, NOW, THEREFORE,
41
42	Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
43
44	That Congress is urged to reject any efforts by the Justice
45	Department to try terrorists in federal court in New York City
46	or any other domestic venue by exercising its constitutional
47	authority as set forth in Section 1 of Article III of the United
48	States Constitution which states: "The judicial Power of the
49	United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such
50	inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and
51	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.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.