Stuart Taylor is an Evil Genius

What began as a middle school civics lesson turned into surprisingly salient conversation between Imus and legal whiz Stuart Taylor, Jr., as they discussed the "whys" and the "what ifs" surrounding the decision to hold the 9/11 masterminds' trials in Manhattan.

Taylor was able to confirm what a former United States Senator and current United States Congressman could not: that the due process clause of the 14th Amendment affords anyone on trial in a regular American court the same rights as an American citizen, no matter where they come from or what they might have done.

"I think it makes sense," said Taylor, a National Journal columnist. He doesn't buy, as the Obama administration has purported, that Attorney General Eric Holder made this decision unilaterally. But it turns out President Obama could have.

"The Attorney General isn't in [the Constitution] anywhere," Taylor explained. "It's often said that the Attorney General is the chief law enforcement officer in the United States; in fact, the President is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States."

Holder plans to try the terrorists who bombed the USS Cole in 1998 using military commissions, using the rationale that the USS Cole is a military target. While the same could be said of the Pentagon, which was attacked on 9/11, Taylor believes trying the "really famous guys" like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in civilian court is mostly symbolic.

"It's partly for international consumption, and partly because it shows we're not afraid to do it," he said. "And then the people in the less conspicuous ring will get tried with military commissions, which are more practical."

Trying all of the alleged 9/11 conspirators in military tribunals would not serve the United States well abroad, he added, because they have a bad reputation and no international legitimacy.

"This administration bows too much to international opinion, but I think this is a case where it makes sense to take note of international opinion," said Taylor.

He has been back and forth on this issue, but is ultimately giving Holder the benefit of the doubt. "Unlike the people criticizing him, he sat down with the prosecutors and the intelligence people and said, 'Okay, what's our strategy on this case? How are we going to prove it?'" said Taylor.

As for Imus's concern that the defense would claim Mohammed being waterboarded 183 times led to his confession, Taylor said the prosecution could avoid that problem.

"They're going to structure their case so that they don't rely on statements by these defendants that came during or after their interrogations," Taylor said. Mohammed, for example, confessed to Al-Jazeera before ever being captured by the U.S.

The prospect of a hung jury and subsequent retrial would be "too bad," in Taylor's view, but not a catastrophe. Yet, an idea put forth recently in the Wall Street Journal appealed to Taylor and to Imus even more than a trial: bring these terrorists up 1,000 feet in a helicopter over Ground Zero, and push them out the door.

"I smiled a little when I saw that," said Taylor.

-Julie Kanfer