Andrew Patel Quotations

The plea that will be entered next Thursday will be 'not guilty'.

Mr. Padilla is being treated as any American citizen. This case should be tried in a public courtroom, and will be tried in a public courtroom.

Never before in our history has an American president claimed the power to be able to detain without charge and indefinitely an American citizen in a civilian setting.

If they have evidence that he did something wrong, indict him and give him a forum where he can defend himself as every American citizen has been able to do for the last 225 years.

He's hasn't been allowed to defend himself. That's what we do in America. We give people -- no matter what they're accused of -- we give them their day in court.

We don't know if the order exists in written form. It is his order that started the ball rolling on this illegal detention.

Without Padilla's input, this court is deprived of a full factual record.

We will be providing him with a zealous defense.

Once you open the door to a power like that, where does it end? ... There is a certain bedrock way we do things as Americans. If we believe someone has done something bad, we take them to court and prove it. It's a grade-school civics thing.

One cannot discount the obvious -- Padilla has no information to provide.

This case started in a very unusual way but I'm happy to say that today it is a criminal proceeding. Mr. Padilla is being treated as any American citizen charged with wrongdoing in this country.

This case started in an unusual way, but I'm happy today it's in a criminal court proceeding. Mr. Padilla is being treated like any other American citizen in the criminal justice system.

They seem to be saying, 'We're not going to take this one, but we are watching and we are not going to let this happen again'.

It's a matter of how paranoid you are. What it could mean is that the president conceivably could sign a piece of paper when he has hearsay information that somebody has done something he doesn't like and send them to jail - without a hearing (or) a trial.

It's a matter of how paranoid you are,

How does someone who is not a member of the armed forces of a nation state become an armed combatant?

The issue that is before the court, that we have asked them to take up, is: does the president of the United States have the authority to sign a piece of paper and send someone to jail without criminal process, and have him held by the military. We say the constitution does not permit that.