The President's Nullification Power

Among the most extraordinary powers claimed by both President Bush and President Obama as part of the post-9/11 "war on terrorism" is the power to nullify -- or ignore -- jury verdicts of acquittal in federal criminal cases involving terrorism.

They came to a screeching halt on 9/11, when President Bush, the Justice Department, and the Pentagon announced that they now possessed the power to treat suspected terrorists either as criminal defendants or as enemy combatants, at their option.

As part of that announcement, the president and the military quietly assumed the power to nullify -- that is, ignore -- federal-court jury verdicts of acquittal in terrorism cases and treat the acquitted person as an enemy combatant, including subjecting him to indefinite incarceration.'

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