Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

Conservatives Quiet After Saying Civilian System Couldn't Handle Underwear Bomber

Ryan J. Reilly | February 17, 2012, 11:58AM

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the so-called "underwear bomber," was sentenced to life in prison Thursday following his trial in federal court. Two years ago, Republicans insisted trying Abdulmutallab in federal court was a terrible idea.

There was a time when the circumstances surrounding Abdulmutallab's arrest were part of a lengthy national debate about the best way to handle terrorism cases. There were letters, television appearances and press releases calling on the Obama administration to reverse its position and send Abdulmutallab into the military tribunal system due to perceived weaknesses in the civilian court system.

Now that he's locked up for life, it's pretty much radio silence. A search for press releases mentioning Abdulmutallab from members of Congress this week turns up just one, from Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), who said the sentence 'demonstrations that our federal court system is fully capable of bringing terrorist to justice."

Still it's worth revisiting just what critics of the civilian court system predicted. Some examples:

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Topics: Buck McKeon, Jerry Lewis, Joe Lieberman, Kit Bond, Lamar Smith, Michele Bachmann, Miranda rights, Mitch McConnell, Pete Hoekstra, Peter King, Susan Collins, Terrorism, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, underwear bomber

Pete Hoekstra

Civil Rights Commissioner Calls Hoekstra Super Bowl Ad 'Blatantly Racist'

Ryan J. Reilly | February 6, 2012, 12:40PM

A member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has written a letter to Rep. Pete Hoekstra asking him to stop airing an ad featuring an Asian American actress pretending to speak broken English.

"I urge you to stop airing this offensive ad immediately and to reconfigure your website to remove the smear of ignorance and bigotry that permeates every page," Commissioner Michael Yaki wrote in a letter sent to Hoekstra on Monday morning.

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Topics: Michael Yaki, Pete Hoekstra