Leaders of two major bar groups welcomed the decision of the Obama administration last week to try Somali terror suspect Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame in Manhattan federal court. Mr. Warsame was captured in the waters off the Horn of Africa and held in a U.S. Navy ship for two months while he was interrogated, first by intelligence agents and then by law enforcement officers who gave him Miranda warnings. He was brought to New York on July 4.
The administration’s handling of the case was denounced by some lawmakers, who insisted that Mr. Warsame was not entitled to the same rights accorded defendants in U.S. courts and that a New York trial would endanger national security. But the presidents of both the New York State Bar Association and the New York City Bar reiterated their organizations’ long-standing support for trying alleged terrorists in U.S. civilian courts.
