Yesterday the Senate Armed Services Committee rejected the president's plan for military tribunals for terror suspects.
The military is considering whether to hold military tribunals at Guantanamo for some of the detainees.
"Juvenile justice standards are clear: children should not be tried before military tribunals, " she said.
In contrast, say Hamdan's lawyers, the Bush military tribunals provide for none of that.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has declared Mexico's military tribunals illegal four times.
But as a matter of policy, "Military tribunals are the proper venue for enemy combatants, " he said.
And yet there are no plans, we're told, no plans at this point, about setting up military tribunals.
The Supreme Court has ruled that military tribunals cannot try United States citizens if civilian courts are open.
The idea of military tribunals worries many of America's European allies, including those thinking of extraditing terrorist suspects.
Instead, al Qaeda terrorists are, under international law, considered "illegal combatants, " and are subject to trial by military tribunals.
Naturally, the rules for conducting criminal trials differ from those for military tribunals.
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On this score, the incoherence of the Obama administration's policies on domestic terrorism, detainees and military tribunals unsettles people.
But Hamdan's lawyers counter that that authorization makes no mention of military tribunals.
Reforms of the military tribunals have been put place, but are mainly untested.
The core issue is whether the president, as Commander in Chief, has the unilateral power to set up military tribunals.
The Bush administration points to Supreme Court decisions during and right after World War II that upheld military tribunals like these.
"We don't expect lots and lots of military tribunals, " the official said.
They even left open the possibility that American citizens could still be detained without full trials, perhaps being processed instead by military tribunals.
It has sought to reimpose discipline and end the protesters' sometimes chaotic exuberance on the streets, using military tribunals and long-hated emergency laws.
For example, under the current regulations on U.S. military tribunals, findings of guilt can be appealed to the secretary of defense and the president.
No charges have been filed against any of those held at the base, although American officials have said some prisoners could face military tribunals.
But Tsarnaev is a naturalized U.S. citizen, and under U.S. law, American citizens cannot be tried by military tribunals, White House spokesman Jay Carney said.
Earlier this year, he signed an executive order creating a formal system of indefinite detention at Guantanamo and starting new military tribunals for detainees there.
One said President Bush's system of military tribunals is illegal.
Let's face it, prior to the institution of military tribunals in the late 18th century, spies and people who fought out of uniform were simply shot.
Rogue soldiers have operated with impunity, partly because investigations against them are run by secret military tribunals even when the alleged crime is against a civilian.
The court defended the right of the president "in time of war and of grave national danger" to order the eight to be tried by military tribunals.
But the conviction also undermines the administration's argument that alleged terrorists need to be prosecuted before military tribunals because civilian courts are not equipped to handle them.
And the president also wants Congress to approve his plans for military tribunals to detain the - to try, rather, the detainees who are now at Guantanamo Bay.
The confessions were used to convict them before military tribunals.
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