Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) said that a bill passed by Congress denies terror detainees their rights in an appearance on campus yesterday.
The act, backed by President Bush, goes too far in depriving detainees habeas corpus, which is enshrined in 800 years of legal history, he said. Habeas corpus is the right of an imprisoned person to challenge the legality of his imprisonment in court.
Speaking before an audience of a couple hundred in College Hall, Specter wandered the aisles instead of hunkering down behind a podium as he discussed his opposition to the legislation.
Specter said he had proposed an amendment to the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which, if passed, would have preserved habeas corpus for detainees. However, it failed by a vote of 51-48.
"We had a long, tough debate on whether habeas corpus should be retained, and the good guys lost," Specter said.
When asked a question about whether the Bush administration might be tried in the International Criminal Court for war crimes, he responded jokingly.
"Will you broaden that question to include Congress? The Senate? Me?" Specter replied, before adding that he did not think it likely.
Responding to a question about North Korea, Specter criticized President Bush's refusal to open bilateral negotiations with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il.
"I wouldn't be too big for our britches, and I would be willing to talk with them," he said.
A common theme in his responses was the value of talking.
He recalled his many conversations with world leaders - Fidel Castro and Saddam Hussein among them - to stress the importance of diplomacy.
The best way to solve our problems is through talking, he said.
Adam Kassan, a graduate student in the School of Arts and Sciences, said he was not happy with all of Specter's answers.
"He was a little too political," Kassan said. "He kind of beat around the issues."
However, Kassan said he liked Specter overall and would be willing to vote for him in the future.
Specter, a 1951 Penn graduate, spoke as part of a Public Policy Forum sponsored by the Fels Institute of Government.
