Rep. Schiff: Administration Acting Properly in Boston Marathon Bombing Case, Should Resist Calls to Treat as Enemy Combatant
Burbank, CA -- Today, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), a former federal prosecutor and senior Member of the Intelligence Committee, released the following statement after calls to treat the Boston Marathon suspect as an enemy combatant:
"Law enforcement is properly relying on the public safety exception to Miranda in the aftermath of the arrest of the second suspect to interrogate him and make sure there are no other bombs, plots or risks to the American people.
"The Administration should resist hasty calls to treat the suspect as an enemy combatant. This is not a foreign national caught on an enemy battlefield, but an American citizen arrested on American soil. The Justice Department has demonstrated a far greater ability to successfully prosecute suspected terrorists in federal courts than the military commissions have thus far been able to show. Nothing must be done to compromise the public safety, the ability of prosecutors to seek justice for the victims or our constitutional principles."
###