Arlen Specter: “The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said that the Supreme Court, speaking explicitly through Justice…”

“The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said that the Supreme Court, speaking explicitly through Justice Stevens, only dealt with a holding on the statute. They classified it as dictum when they said there was a constitutional right. Let me move on quickly to a couple of other points. As to the adequacy of proceedings in the combat status review tribunals, you have the case involving In re: Guantanamo, which I cited this morning, where Judge Green dealt with the precise case in the District of Columbia Circuit Court, the Boumediene case, which had a procedure where the detainee was charged with talking to somebody who was from al-Qaida, and he asked who it was and they could not identify the person. There was laughter in the courtroom, and Judge Green said it is understandable that there was laughter in the courtroom because nothing had been established. I ask a very simple, direct question, and maybe you can even answer it yes or no. Was that a fair proceeding?”