from staff
Florida Bar President Hank Coxe is not happy with a member of the U.S. Department of Defense and his recent statement concerning detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba – and Coxe has let Pres. George W. Bush know exactly where he stands on the issue.
Wednesday, Coxe applauded the efforts of lawyers representing Guantanamo detainees. He condemned the derogatory remarks of the Defense Department’s Charles “Cully” Stimson, which suggested those law firms be boycotted, according to Coxe.
In a letter to Bush, Coxe asked for his immediate repudiation of statements by Stimson, who serves as assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs. Coxe called the comments “abhorrent to the highest ideals of this nation’s legal profession and an affront to the lawyers who provide legal services to the needy and oppressed throughout Florida and America.”
Coxe is a criminal defense attorney with Jacksonville firm Bedell, Dittmar, DeVault, Pillans & Coxe. In his statement, Coxe emphasized the legal profession’s time-honored commitment to pro-bono representation and to upholding the principles of duty and service to the public.
“It is clear that those lawyers and law firms representing the detainees should be applauded, not attacked, criticized or associated by innuendo with wrongdoing,” said Coxe. “The lawyers who have undertaken representation of detainees, no matter what their personal beliefs, are doing precisely what this profession and a civilized society demand — to suggest otherwise is dangerous and offensive to our Bill of Rights.”
Urging the president to condemn Stimson’s statements, Coxe also commended U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales for his disavowal of them.
“Mr. Stimson has demonstrated ignorance of the basic precepts of due process and the right to counsel and, perhaps worse, blatant disregard for what this nation has always cherished,” said Coxe.