Americans are divided on whether suspected terrorists should be tried in military or criminal courts. And after making the case for trying Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in the Manhattan criminal courts, even the Obama administration appears to be changing course on the trial of the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks.

Donald Rehkopf, a Rochester criminal defense attorney, says the push for trying people like Mohammed in military courts is being driven by fear-baiting political forces.

"The federal criminal courts not only can handle these cases efficiently and effectively, they have a long history of doing so," he says. "We've successfully prosecuted hundreds of quote-unquote terrorists."

Rehkopf is a panelist in "Civilian Trials, Military Tribunals, and Terrorism," a discussion at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, March 16, at Downtown Presbyterian Church, 121 North Fitzhugh Street. The event is free and open to the public.

A retired lieutenant colonel with the US Army, Rehkopf is among a small group of attorneys who specialize in military law. He has been involved in several high-profile cases, including the landmark 2004 Supreme Court case of Hamdi v. Rumsfeld. The Supreme Court in that case said that Hamdi, a US citizen, could not be detained indefinitely as an "illegal enemy combatant."

"The Constitution applies to everyone, good, bad, and indifferent," Rehkopf says. "Sometimes you have to protect the rights of the worst person in order to protect the rights of everyone."

Hawkish conservatives continue to argue, however, that defendants in the criminal courts can turn the trials into lavish spectacles with uncertain outcomes. And classified military information will wind up in the hands of terrorists, they say, as part of the defense.

Under the Geneva Convention, the government can prosecute war criminals in military courts, Rehkopf says.

"But the Geneva Convention had a kicker," he says. "You've got to give them the same due process and rights that you give your own soldiers. Dick Cheney and his gang didn't want that. They wanted a guarantee of the death penalty."