Another Bush-Like Proposal From the Obama Administration?

According to New York Times sources, the Obama administration is floating a proposal to delay presenting terrorism suspects to judges for an initial hearing. The initial hearing is a formal legal process during which a criminal suspect comes before a judge and learns of the charges against him or her and about the right to remain silent and to have an attorney. A judge could also set bail or require the detainee to remain incarcerated.

Recently, Eric Holder said that the Obama administration would ask Congress to change exceptions to the Miranda rule, which would likely violate current Supreme Court doctrine. The New York Times reports that changes to Miranda and to the initial hearing process could come in the same legislative proposal:

President Obama’s legal advisers are considering asking Congress to allow the government to detain terrorism suspects longer after their arrests before presenting them to a judge for an initial hearing, according to administration officials familiar with the discussions.

If approved, the idea to delay hearings would be attached to broader legislation to allow interrogators to withhold Miranda warnings from terrorism suspects for lengthy periods, as Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. proposed last week.

The devil is always in the details, but on the surface, this sounds does not sound good.