Assessing the Constitutionality of the Alien Terrorist Removal Court

In 1996, Congress created the Alien Terrorist Removal Court (ATRC). A court of deportation, the ATRC provides the U.S. attorney general a forum to remove expeditiously any resident alien who the attorney general has probable cause to believe is a terrorist. In theory, resident aliens receive different-and arguably far weaker-procedural protections before the ATRC than they would receive before an administrative immigration panel. In theory, the limited nature of the ATRC protections might implicate resident aliens\u27 Fifth Amendment rights. In practice, however, the ATRC has never been used. Perhaps to avoid an adverse constitutional ruling, the attorney general has never brought a deportation proceeding before the court. This Note examines the constitutionality of statutes underlying the ATRC that allow the government to rely on secret evidence. Although these provisions are constitutional on their face, they would be unconstitutional as applied in some circumstances. This Note concludes by suggesting how the ATRC\u27s secret-evidence provisions must be amended if the provisions are to become constitutional as applied in all circumstances