As an assistant attorney general in the months after the attacks, Chertoff helped oversee the detention of 762 foreign citizens for immigration violations, none of whom was charged with terrorism-related crimes.
A subsequent report by the Justice Department's inspector general determined that the "no bond" policy for the detainees -- a tactic whose legality was questioned at the time by immigration officials -- led to lengthy delays in releasing them from prison, where some faced "a pattern of physical and verbal abuse."
The American Civil Liberties Union said Chertoff's public record suggests "he sees the Bill of Rights as an obstacle to national security, rather than a guidebook for how to do security properly."
Chertoff told reporters he would "devote all my energy to promoting our homeland security and, as important, to preserving our fundamental liberties."
At his May 2003 confirmation hearings for the federal bench, Chertoff was forced by Senate Democrats to explain how the Patriot Act, which expanded the government's surveillance powers, did not encroach on ordinary Americans' freedom. In the end, Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., was the only senator to oppose Chertoff's nomination, and her concerns were not about Sept. 11 policies, rather Chertoff's role as the Senate Republicans' chief counsel in the Whitewater investigation of the 1990s.
old friends... sat on the parkbench like bookends...
A subsequent report by the Justice Department's inspector general determined that the "no bond" policy for the detainees -- a tactic whose legality was questioned at the time by immigration officials -- led to lengthy delays in releasing them from prison, where some faced "a pattern of physical and verbal abuse."
The American Civil Liberties Union said Chertoff's public record suggests "he sees the Bill of Rights as an obstacle to national security, rather than a guidebook for how to do security properly."
Chertoff told reporters he would "devote all my energy to promoting our homeland security and, as important, to preserving our fundamental liberties."
At his May 2003 confirmation hearings for the federal bench, Chertoff was forced by Senate Democrats to explain how the Patriot Act, which expanded the government's surveillance powers, did not encroach on ordinary Americans' freedom. In the end, Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., was the only senator to oppose Chertoff's nomination, and her concerns were not about Sept. 11 policies, rather Chertoff's role as the Senate Republicans' chief counsel in the Whitewater investigation of the 1990s.
old friends... sat on the parkbench like bookends...
Comments