9/11 Terrorist Defense Attorney Wears Islamic Hijab in Court to Respect Clients

Attorneys are expected to zealously defend their clients. Cheryl Bormann, however, has taken this expectation to realms previously unheard of.

Bormann represents Walid bin Attash, personal bodyguard and errand boy of the late Osama Bin Laden. Bormann appeared at a hearing last week wearing a traditional Islamic hijab, clothing which conceals all parts of her, with the exception of her face, despite the fact that she isn’t a Muslim. When the judge inquired Bormann why she wore the hijab, she explained it was to show respect to her client’s faith. Bormann then made a motion for other women in the court to dress similarly, as it would distract her client from the hearing and the subsequent trial.

This motion, combined with her client’s erratic behavior, dragged a hearing which should have lasted a couple of hours at most into a thirteen hour ordeal. Attash, who refused to answer the judge’s questions, rejected the translation headphones and launched into periodic prayers, stated that he had been treated poorly in Guantanamo Bay where he has been incarnated since his capture.

This story raises questions about the limits of respect and tolerance. Bormann has the right to dress as she wishes, provided that, as an attorney, her taste in clothing doesn’t interfere with her ability to represent her client. If she believes that wearing a hijab will enable her to communicate with her client more effectively, than I don’t see why she should be forced not to wear it. Bormann’s request that other women dress as she has, however, is another matter all together.

It would be delusional, at best, to believe that the women on the prosecution should comply with Bormann’s suggestion. First, if Bormann has the right to dress as she chooses, then so do other women. As long as all members of the court dress professionally, as defined by the judge, then they should be allowed to wear what they want. Second, the argument that mini-skirts would distract the defendant from focusing on the matters of life and death is flawed. It sounds like the reason Attash can’t control his lust is because of the way women look. This line of reasoning insults men by making men look like pigs unable to control their urges and pins the blame for male irresponsibility on women.

But even if we grant that Attash comes from a culture with a higher threshold for clothing decency, it is obvious from the defendant’s behavior that the prosecution’s clothing isn’t influencing Bormann’s motion. Attash was disinterested in the hearing the whole time. Blaming women’s clothing was a tactic to throw the judge and the rest of the court, not a real concern of the client’s.

However, the most loathsome aspect of the hearing was the fact that family members of 9/11 victims were watching the whole circus unfold. Imagine having lost a parent or a sibling or a child a decade ago to these men’s’ insanity and having to watch, today, an American defense attorney demand respect for the faith of those wrongdoers. A faith which, according to these men, pushed them to commit murder on a grand scale. Many victims would find it respectful if the terrorists were punished without this sideshow.

More importantly though, this hearing was a preview of President Obama’s decision to move terrorists out of military tribunals and into domestic courts for trial. If a hearing like this is being turned into a farce, then the American public can’t expect much from an actual trial. Why should we show respect for these men if they can’t respect us enough to participate in their own trial?

The terrorists of 9/11 are hypocrites of the worst kind, killing over 3000 innocents as a good deed but being afraid of hell for looking at a woman’s legs. Yet we as a country need not sink to their level of hypocrisy. Attash and his fellow terrorists shame Islam with their actions, but Americans honor the Constitution and its values by allowing Attash to be heard in our legal system, as our own principles dictate. That Attash and men like him have a voice full of hypocrisy and venom is not a surprise. The fact Americans allow him to use that vile voice is what separates us from him.