Arlen Specter: “I have expressed in the past concern about the provisions of the pending legislation which authorize secret proceedings…”

“I have expressed in the past concern about the provisions of the pending legislation which authorize secret proceedings in certain instances. It had been my hope that we might have been able to deal with the problem of suspected terrorists without being involved in secret proceedings. I had been working on an amendment which would have dealt with people who were in the United States illegally, who could be proceeded against and deported because of their illegal status without the need for the government to rely on secret evidence. I have very grave concerns about the constitutionality of any deportation proceeding in which secret evidence is used and there is not a right of confrontation. Technically, deportation proceedings are civil in nature and therefore do not require the full scope of confrontation rights which are available in criminal cases. Notwithstanding the fact that deportation proceedings are civil in nature, the courts have held that due process does attach to a deportation proceeding. It may well be when the case reaches the Supreme Court of the United States that this due process requirement will be found to pick up the right of confrontation under the sixth amendment.”