Bump and Update: The ABA House of Delegates will be debating and voting on a resolution criticizing several of the proposed rules for military tribunals today, so we are bumping up this post from Sunday:

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Saturday, at the ABA Criminal Justice Section Council meeting in San Franscisco, the Council took up the issue of the proposed rules for military tribunals. On August 2, the NACDL Board of Directors unanimously voted to oppose the rules in a resolution that said it would be unethical for a criminal defense lawyer to represent an accused before these military commissions in their present form because the restrictions imposed upon defense counsel make it impossible for counsel to provide adequate or ethical representation.

The ABA Task Force on the Treatment of Enemy Combatants, chaired by Neal Sonnett of Miami, joined with the Criminal Justice Section, NACDL and other bar groups in the preparation of a comprehensive report and resolution that will be presented this Tuesday to the House of Delegates. You can read a non-lawyer description here.

The Resolution calls upon the Government to make seven modifications in the tribunal rules. The resolution passed the Criminal Justice Section by a wide margin, and now moves on to the House of Delegates. Here they are in long form.

1. The government should not monitor privileged conversations, or interfere with confidential communications, between any defense counsel and client;

2. The government should ensure that CDC who have received appropriate
security clearances are permitted to be present at all stages of commission
proceedings and are afforded full access to all information necessary to prepare a defense, including potential exculpatory evidence, whether or not used, or intended to be used, at a trial;

3. The government should ensure that CDC are able to consult with other attorneys, seek expert assistance, advice, or counsel outside the defense team,
and conduct all professionally appropriate factual and legal research, subject to their duty not to reveal or disseminate classified or protected information or to such other conditions as the presiding officer of a military commission may determine are required by the circumstances in a particular case after notice and hearing;