ALTHOUGH THERE is likely no legal precedent for press access to a terrorism trial by a military tribunal, several prominent members of the legal community said Tuesday night that it was in the government’s best interest to be as open as possible to show the world that the proceedings are just.
The remarks were made during “Media Access to Terrorism on Trial,” a panel discussion hosted by the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. Sitting on the panel were: Mary Jo White, former U.S. Attorney in Manhattan; Chief Judge Michael B. Mukasey of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York; Eve Burton, a visiting lecturer on constitutional law at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism; and Bill Keller, a New York Times columnist and the paper’s former managing editor. Burt Neuborne, legal director at the Brennan Center for Justice, moderated the panel.
