Political Quotes

“This is really a continuation of our colloquy from the last amendment since they both seek to do the same thing. Let me just say a couple of things. Again, the United States Supreme Court has ruled that people in Guantanamo Bay have the same constitutional rights as people in Florida, New York, or Washington, so I do not seek to give people in Guantanamo Bay constitutional rights they do not already have. They have the constitutional rights. That was the Supreme Court decision, I think, in 2009 I think the decision was. They have the constitutional rights. Anyone under the jurisdiction and effective control of the United States has the constitutional rights, so that is not really in question. What is really in question is: Are we going to honor our obligations? Now, the gentleman says that some of these people are terrible people, that they are murderers. Some of them may be, and some of them are, but some of them may not be. They have not been tried. They ought to be tried. As the gentleman from Pennsylvania said, we have criticized the Chinese communists, and we have criticized many other nations for holding people in jail indefinitely, for not trying them and for not giving them any kind of due process. These people, like any other human beings, deserve some due process. Some of them, I am sure, have been terrorists. They ought to be condemned and put in jail forever. Some of them may not be.…”