In a major policy reversal, the Obama administration has decided to try five men accused of plotting the 9/11 attack before a military commission at Guantánamo instead of a civilian court. In November 2009, Attorney General Eric Holder announced Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others would be tried in a federal court in New York City. But the White House later abandoned that plan due to political pressure. On Monday, Holder criticized Congress for blocking attempts to try the men in a civilian court.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder: “Had this case proceeded in Manhattan or in an alternative venue in the United States, as I seriously explored in the last year, I am confident that our justice system could have performed with the same distinction that has been its hallmark for over 200 years. Now, unfortunately, since I made that decision, members of Congress have intervened and imposed restrictions blocking the administration from bringing any Guantánamo detainees to trial in the United States, regardless of the venue. As the President has said, those unwise and unwarranted restrictions undermine our counterterrorism efforts and could harm our national security.”

The Obama administration’s plan to use military commissions has been widely criticized by many legal and human rights groups. Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said, “The Attorney General’s flip-flop is devastating for the rule of law.”