For nine months in 1995, I had the privilege of trying the Blind Sheikh and his co-defendants before U.S. District Judge Michael B. Mukasey, who was the best judge in the United States, bar none. He later handled many of the post-9/11 detentions and the litigation over Jose Padilla when that now-convicted terrorist was being held as an enemy combatant.

Having recently retired from the bench and returned to private practice, Judge Mukasey has written an important op-ed, published in the Wall Street Journal this morning and posted on OpinionJournal.com. I am gratified that he mentioned my national security court proposal, as well as a proposal concerning preventive detention by my friend George Terwilliger. Nevertheless, the truly significant impact of the piece is the insight of a distinguished jurist who cares deeply about the justice system regarding that system’s capacity — or lack thereof — to combat Islamic terrorism.