re: #537 bloodstar

Ok, how about this, Tribunals circumvent the entire concept of transparency and enable corruption of the system through the secretive nature of the proceedings. I understand the need and desire for state secrets. But for every time a state secret really is so, there are other times in which state secrets are used to hide Criminal behavior by the individuals in the government.

We have plenty of fine men and women in the military as well as the civil justice system. but they’re just that, fallible and human. Temptation to use and abuse power is inherent in all of us and the idea of having tribunals, particularly ones that are opaque and without any sort of significant appeals process or sunlight strikes me as too much power to grant to any entity that decides the fate of other human beings, even the evil ones.

I’m writing this off the cuff, so I’m sure someone can take this and explain the concept better, but you did ask for someone to try :)

You know that brings to mind an interesting middle ground. What if we had a trial at a place like Gitmo, but we made it so that it was afforable for ordianry peopel to travel there after they go through a reasonable security check? We have a civillian trial, just not in a place as hard to full control as NY…