Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev won’t be tried as an enemy combatant, according to a statement by White House spokesman Jay Carney.
Carney spoke during a media briefing on Monday afternoon. However, he did announce that Tsarnaev will be tried in the federal court system. Carney stated:
“[Dzhokhar] will not be treated as an enemy combatant. We will process this terrorist through our system of justice.”
The news comes just two days after Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC), John McCain (R-AZ), and Kelly Ayote (R-NH), along with Representative Peter King (R-NY) called for President Obama to treat the 19-year-old bombing suspect as an enemy combatant.
Graham explained on Sunday that a US citizen can still be considered an enemy combatant. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev earned his status as a naturalized US citizen on September 11, 2012. He added:
“When the public safety exception expires, and it will here soon, this man in my view should be designated as a potential enemy combatant, and we should be allowed to question him for intelligence-gathering purposes to find out about future attacks and terrorist organizations that may exist and he has knowledge of.”
Some, like Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA), strongly opposed Tsarnaev’s potential labeling as an enemy combatant. She argued that doing so would be unconstitutional. Speaking on Fox News Sunday , the senator explained:
“I do not believe under the military commission law that he is eligible for that. It would be unconstitutional to do that… I very much regret that there are those that want to participate in a debate over whether he’s an enemy combatant or whether he is a terrorist, a murderer, et cetera.”
But on Monday, White House spokesman Carney removed all questions about Tsarnaev’s potential treatment. He stated that a US citizen cannot be tried before military commissions, outlawing him from being treated as an enemy combatant. He also explained, “The system has repeatedly proven that it can successfully handle the threat that we continue to face.”
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