Bob Menendez: “Last year, I made a very difficult decision. I voted for the Military Commissions Act because I believed it would make…”

“Last year, I made a very difficult decision. I voted for the Military Commissions Act because I believed it would make our Nation safer and help us fight the war on terrorism. I did not support the bill, however, without reservations. I said at the time it was not the law I would have written. To the contrary, I supported the bill with the understanding we would go back and fix some of the problems that remained unsolved. Tomorrow, the Senate has an opportunity to fix one of the most glaring of those problems, the failure to provide detainees with the right to habeas corpus. A right to habeas corpus was a fundamental right in the eyes of our Founding Fathers. It was seen as a mechanism for accountability within our Government, giving prisoners a way to challenge detentions that were unlawful or unconstitutional. A right to habeas corpus has remained a cornerstone of our criminal justice system since our very beginning as a Nation. It continues to be reaffirmed time and time again by every court in the land. Granting all prisoners the right to petition for habeas corpus is something that makes our Nation special and sets us apart.”