Afternoon session was very agreeable. Opened with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) telling Holder, “I’m almost ready to vote for you right now.” Holder agreed with Graham there is a role for military justice for captured combatants, while habeus corpus applies to accused terrorists in the domestic justice system. Enemy combatants “should be held off the battle field as long as they are dangerous,” Graham said. “Do you agree with that?” Holder: “I do.” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) an advocate of strengthening the Freedom of Information Act, said: ”I think you agree that you’d work with us to open up the government to make it more transparent and more accountable.” Holder, who said earlier he’d rescind John Ashcroft’s 2001 memo directing agencies to use any reasonable justificiation for denying a FOIA request, agreed. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) told Holder: “You’ve acquitted yourself well I support you.”
Coverage: Washington Post, New York Times.
