Untitled episode

that reviewed cases to determine whether they would be suitable for article 3 prosecution right and there's a number of us here led by the chair um Senator durman who've called for really closure of Guantanamo it's been you know it's millions of dollars people are there 19 of them without any trial whatsoever and a recent un report found that 19 of The Men Who Remain there have

never been charged with a crime which is a continued violation of their rights but of the rights of victims and their amilies uh can you tell us about your work on that team and what you concluded about the ability to try uh suspected terrorist uh in federal court uh Senator um I believe two things would preclude me from answering much of your question one is um

one is the classified nature of what I reviewed but also the second is is uh uh part of your question I think goes to the Cannons but I can't answer this part of it which is um we were privileged as part of a team in the southern district of New York during a critical period of time where um the office was going to determine um if

cases were suitable for article 3 prosecution which means that no matter how bad you are no matter what you're charged with you get the full rights and remedies that all um that all Americans get and um there was one case that I'm sure Senator Welch you're aware of that was tried in the southern district of New York while I was there it was the case against

prosecution well is just setting aside the policy debate and I know this is you know the policy set here not by you what your understanding of the law as it relates to the indefinite uh Detention of suspected terrorists without charging them with a crime Senator uh uh there there's two short answers to that first I it's been so long since I've been close to it that

I really don't know and secondly I would say you know there are habus cases that are brought uh all the time in article three courts and if I was so fortunate to be confirmed I would be in the southern district of Florida which is not that far away so I I would um I would not want to comment upon upon even a possible habus case that

could come before me uh judge Austin uh I just want to I know you've done some work in drug courts yes right and uh that's a big deal in Vermont matter of fact our uh senior status uh revered uh judge sessions wants to spend a lot of time uh on drug courts uh I H happen to be a big believer believer in them they you know

they saved money but it's more than that it really has had a real impact on recidivism uh and most of the people there have a real substance abuse problem that sometimes then morphs into criminal situation so uh I just want to ask you about the bridge program and I know you preside over that as a Magistrate Judge and can you just discuss your experience with that

program in South Carolina and how you see that program being beneficial to the the justice system yes Senator um I actually really I mean that's one of the fun parts of my job as presiding over Bridge Court yes sir um that's I I call it fun part of my job um the individuals that are entered into Bridge Court there's been a deter been a determination by

the US attorney's office and the probation office that the the foundation of the reason why they're in federal court is their drug use and so in drug court what we try to do do is give them tools and resources we provide them with mentors um to try and help them address the drug use issue and any other issues that might be um kind of forcing them

or or pushing them them in that direction um sometimes it's education um sometimes it's homelessness um issues like that if we can help them address that help them find jobs help so you have the resources that AB are available through the court process yes to assist and followup yes sir so our probation office assigns um each individual to a drug counselor um they're assigned mentors there's

also mentors excuse me in the legal Community we have attorneys who come in and um act as mentors as well to these individuals um we help them find jobs um and then we have uh meetings every two call them meet meetings every two weeks they come into court and the first thing I ask them is tell me something good tell me something that good that happened

to you in the past two weeks and it's interesting because the first time they come in it's like you know I don't know anything that that happened that was good but I'm like you made it two weeks without using drugs yeah you know so let's start there and then you know by the end they're they're talking and they're telling me everything that's going on but I

I really enjoy the drug program I believe that um the majority of our individuals who graduate are successful um and I think I think it just helps them when they return back into the community they have tools that they can use to make sure that they stay on the right track thank you very much and I thank all the the the nominees I yield back thank

you Senator Welch