Whoopsie-Daisy! Eric Holder "Forgot" To Disclose 2004 Memo Supporting Jose Padilla In Which He Argued Terrorists Should Have Miranda Rights

And he "forgot" that during his Senate confirmation hearings. Oh well, that's why God gave pencils erasers!

Don't beat yourself up too much about it, Eric. We all forget high-profile amicus briefs we file in the Supreme Court advocating for terrorists. Happens every day.

During his confirmation more than a year ago, Attorney General Eric Holder failed to notify lawmakers he had contributed to a legal brief dealing with the use of federal courts in fighting terrorism, the Justice Department acknowledged on Wednesday.

“The brief should have been disclosed as part of the confirmation process,” Justice Department spokesman Matt Miller said in a statement. “In preparing thousands of pages for submission, it was unfortunately and inadvertently missed.”

Still, the “amicus brief,” filed with the Supreme Court in 2004, resonates years later as Holder finds himself defending the handling of some recent terrorism cases, particularly the interrogation of alleged “Christmas Day bomber” Umar F. Abdulmutallab.

The brief – filed by Holder, then a private attorney, former Attorney General Janet Reno and two other Clinton-era officials – argued that the President lacks authority to hold Jose Padilla, a U.S citizen declared an “enemy combatant,” indefinitely without charge.

In making their case, Holder and the others argued that using federal courts to fight terrorism, which includes providing Miranda rights to terror suspects, would not “impair” the government’s ability to obtain intelligence, which they called “the primary tool for preventing terrorist attacks.”

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But the brief did acknowledge a possible risk in such use of the federal court system – a risk, the brief said, that is outweighed by the advantages.

This is the most incompetent and corrupt AG we've ever had.

posted by Ace at 12:33 PM

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