(CNSNews.com) – Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) told CNSNews.com that civilian courts are well-suited to prosecute al Qaeda terrorists and that "if people don't believe in our system, maybe they ought to go somewhere else.”

Conrad also dismissed a question about the rights of terrorists captured on foreign battlefields and the rules of evidence in terms of a civilian court trial as not serious.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced on Nov. 13 that five suspects in the 9/11 attacks would be tried in a civilian court in New York City instead of facing a military trial...

A legal analyst says the Obama administration's decision to try some of the 9/11 terrorists in civilian courts shows its approach to combating terrorism is both confused and "unduly political."

The lawyer for the five defendants who will be tried in New York says his clients will plead not guilty so that they can air their criticisms of U.S. foreign policy. Attorney Scott Fenstermaker told Associated Press recently the men would not deny their role in the September 11, 2001, attacks but "would explain what happened and why they did it" as well as "their assessment of American foreign policy." (See related article)

Robert Alt, deputy director of the Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation, wonders why the Justice Department is trying some but not all of the Guantanamo Bay terrorists in civilian courts...

Abby Johnson, former director of a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Bryan, Texas, resigned after seeing a sonogram of a baby as it was being aborted. Johnson converted from "pro-choice" to pro-life on the basis of her faith, and she began offering her testimony nationwide.

After quitting her job at Planned Parenthood, the organization filed suit against Johnson to block her from revealing any confidential information through copies of documents she allegedly made. Steven H. Aden of Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) took the case to court, where the ruling fell in Johnson's favor.

"Planned Parenthood got its temporary restraining order against Abby Johnson thrown out because the judge said they had no evidence that this former director of Planned Parenthood's College Station clinic had absconded with any confidential information regarding its employees or patients," the attorney reports...