Prior to beginning your written assignment read the Criminal ProcedureLinks to an external site. article, Right to a Speedy and Public Trial - Public TrialLinks to an external site. article, the Right to Confront WitnessLinks to an external site. article, Right to CounselLinks to an external site. article and review the Supreme Court Opinions synopses.
Read the following case scenario:
In the ongoing war on terrorism, the new president has proposed expanding the jurisdiction of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA). FISA is a U.S. federal court established and authorized under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to oversee requests for surveillance warrants against foreign spies inside the United States by federal law. The new president’s proposed Secret Terrorism Trial Bill will expand the jurisdiction of the FISA to hold secret, non-public trials of accused terrorists for any planned or actual acts of terrorism on U.S. soil. The bill will also allow witnesses to testify before the FISA Court by remote video with their identities kept secret from the accused and any defense team. The stated purpose for the secrecy is to allow trials of terrorists without giving them a public platform for their radical ideology and to allow witnesses to testify without fear of reprisals from terrorist groups such as ISIS or Al-Qaeda.
Write a paper addressing the following:
Explain whether the proposed Secret Terrorism Trial Bill violates the Sixth Amendment right to a public trial,
Describe whether the proposed Secret Terrorism Trial Bill violate the Sixth Amendment right to confront the witnesses against you.
Explain whether the government’s overriding need to fight terrorism outweighs the Sixth Amendment rights of the accused.
Identify whether the Sixth Amendment applies to terrorists since the writers of the Constitution could not have envisioned mass shootings and suicide bombers.
Full Answer Section
There are a number of reasons why the proposed Secret Terrorism Trial Bill would violate the Sixth Amendment right to a public trial. First, the public has a right to know what is happening in the justice system. This is especially true in cases of terrorism, where the public needs to be able to trust that the government is handling these cases fairly and justly. Second, a public trial ensures that the accused has the opportunity to defend themselves against the charges against them. This is because the public can act as a check on the power of the government and ensure that the accused is not being railroaded. Third, a public trial deters crime. When people know that their trials will be public, they are less likely to commit crimes in the first place.
The proposed Secret Terrorism Trial Bill would also violate the Sixth Amendment right to confront the witnesses against you. This right guarantees that the accused has the right to see and hear the witnesses against them, and to cross-examine them. The proposed bill would allow witnesses to testify before the FISA Court by remote video with their identities kept secret from the accused and any defense team. This would make it impossible for the accused to effectively cross-examine the witnesses against them, and would therefore violate their Sixth Amendment right to confront the witnesses against them.
The stated purpose for the secrecy in the proposed Secret Terrorism Trial Bill is to allow trials of terrorists without giving them a public platform for their radical ideology and to allow witnesses to testify without fear of reprisals from terrorist groups such as ISIS or Al-Qaeda. However, these purposes are not compelling enough to justify violating the Sixth Amendment rights of the accused. The government can already protect the public from the radical ideology of terrorists by holding trials in closed sessions, with the media and the public excluded. And the government can protect witnesses from reprisals by providing them with security and anonymity.
In conclusion, the proposed Secret Terrorism Trial Bill would violate the Sixth Amendment rights of the accused. It would violate the right to a public trial and the right to confront the witnesses against you. These rights are essential to a fair and just justice system, and they should not be violated, even in the name of national security.
In addition to the Sixth Amendment concerns, there are also a number of other constitutional concerns with the proposed Secret Terrorism Trial Bill. For example, the bill would allow the government to detain accused terrorists indefinitely without charge. This would violate the Fifth Amendment right to due process of law. The bill would also allow the government to use torture against accused terrorists. This would violate the Eighth Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
The proposed Secret Terrorism Trial Bill is a dangerous and unconstitutional piece of legislation. It would violate the fundamental rights of the accused and would set a dangerous precedent for the future. The bill should be rejected by Congress.