Proceedings in the long-delayed trial at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, of five men accused of plotting the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks hit a new roadblock on Friday when the military assigned an Air Force judge to preside in the case, and prosecutors declared him unqualified for the job (article available here). Among the previous judges, one chose to retire, another filled in on an administrative basis and the third lasted just two weeks before recusing himself, citing conflicts of interest. Previous coverage here.
Col. Matthew N. McCall, whose biography shows him working as a law clerk in Hawaii at the time of the attacks in 2001, becomes the fourth judge this year to handle the case. He is a deputy chief circuit judge for the Air Force at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia but has served less than two years as a military judge, prompting prosecutors to file a protest on Friday night. “While respectful of Lt. Col. McCall’s military career and achievements, the government does not believe he is qualified to preside over this case based on the information available,” prosecutors wrote in a two-page notice. The prosecutors added that if Colonel McCall did not recuse himself from the case, they would seek to remove him.
Colonel McCall has been a military judge since July 2019. The rules for military commissions trials require a judge at the war court to have “two years of experience as a military judge” in one of the services. It was not immediately known if the chief judge for military commissions, Col. Douglas K. Watkins, had the authority to waive that requirement when he assigned him to the case.