Andrew Patel Quotations

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.

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

We will be providing him with a zealous defense.

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

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.

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.

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,

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.