February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
On Tuesday, the Federal Third Circuit Court of Appeals sent the McAllister case before a merits panel, which will review the facts. This could take many months. The time can be well spent by those who are fully aware of the McAllisters’ merits. By highlighting them effectively, there remains the hope that justice will be done and the family allowed to continue to contribute to its community, as it has been doing for many years.
Justice, however, will not be done by the passing of the new extradition treaty into law. John Ashcroft, the U.S. attorney general, has helped put together a piece of legislation that flies in the face of a whole tradition of legal justice. It will allow the British to extradite even a U.S. citizen on the grounds of probable cause, with no judicial review. The decision of whether the extradition request is to be granted will be left in the hands of the Justice Department. So much for due process.
The last Bush administration fought to achieve this dubious goal and failed. It was at the tail end of a decade of battles in the U.S. courts as the British tried to extradite republican fugitives. For the most part they failed, thanks to the fact that the political-offense exception clause extended protection to fugitives whose crimes were deemed to come under its ambit. Most famous among them was Joe Doherty. If the proposed treaty had been in operation, Doherty would have been back in the UK without a court hearing, if the Justice Department so decided.
The Bush administration is using the fear stirred up by 9/11 to violate basic concepts of justice and human rights. Let’s hope that there are those in the Senate who will have the courage to say so.