NCJ Number
167831
Date Published
1996
Length
5 pages
Annotation
The "terrorist scare" in the wake of the April 1995 Oklahoma City bombing is being used by the President and legislators to try to pass an antiterrorism law that threatens citizens' and immigrants' constitutional rights of association, speech, and privacy.
Abstract
One of the most dangerous aftermaths of the atrocities in Oklahoma City is the rush of support in Congress for the Omnibus Counterterrorism Act of 1995. A Washington Post editorial points out the House bill's contempt for the Constitution as it states that "... aliens accused of supporting terrorist organizations (the President makes this unreviewable determination) could be tried in special courts and deported on the basis of evidence they were not allowed to see. Does this sound like American justice?.." "The real horror of the administration's bill," continues the Washington Post, "is apparent in its procedural aspects. The accused is arrested, detained without a right to bail, and brought for a hearing before one of five U.S. District Court judges chosen for this responsibility by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist." At this hearing, if the government shows that introducing certain classified information would pose a threat to the national security, the evidence can be used but kept secret from the alien and his attorney. Not even a summary of the evidence need be provided. A person who is not a citizen can be accused by a neighbor of having supported the political activities of the Palestine Liberation Organization, for example, be brought before a special court, denied the right to know the evidence against him, and be deported without even learning the identity of his accuser.