U.S. District Judge John Coughenour received a baker's dozen in death threats after he sentenced "millennium bomber" Ahmed Ressam to 22 years in prison: The judge and his family were put under protection by U.S. Marshals.

"I could not perceive any of the threats (that) came from people who thought the way Ressam did," Coughenour told a forum at the Museum of History and Industry last week.

Instead, hiding behind anonymity, people spewed venom at Coughenour for defending the Bill of Rights, and daring to tell the court: "We can deal with the threats to our national security without denying the accused fundamental constitutional protections."

Coughenour was President Reagan's first Northwest appointment to the federal bench. Still, he was dubbed "the terrorists' little helper" and "a fool and a threat" by far-right columnist Michelle Malkin. He was accused of making a "political statement" by Fox News mouth Bill O'Reilly.

Coughenour is unrepentant, even though a panel of U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals judges voted 2-1 to throw out his sentence to Ressam as too lenient and order resentencing by a different judge.

He took the stage at MOHAI with acting deputy Seattle Police Chief Nick Metz and human rights activist Jafar Siddiqui. The topic: How does a free society defend itself, a subject explored in the museum's exhibit The Enemy Within.

Declared and undeclared and "Cold" wars, plus the advent of the national security state, has brought calls to set loose state snooping and detain suspects without trial -- even American citizens.

"Are we really going to detain people for the duration of the 'War on Terror' without trial?" Coughnour asked. "Do we believe the executive branch should be given carte blanche to say people are 'dangerous' and should be detained for the rest of their lives."

Exploiters of fear -- you can start with Malkin and O'Reilly -- -- fan suspicions of people based on ancestry, ethnicity and religious belief. As well, even the most inept suspect is made out to be larger than life.

Don't lionize terror suspects, Coughenour advised. They should be stripped of their aura, read their rights, tried before juries, and jailed if convicted.

Metz gave a cop's definition that you won't hear on Cable TV. "A terrorist is a criminal who would commit or threaten violence to make people afraid," he said, adding an apt description: "They're thugs. They are people who need to be treated as criminals."

After all, asked the chief, wasn't it terrorism that saw police officers murdered in Seattle and Lakewood last winter?

A moment later, Coughenour added: "It is my business, on a daily basis, to enforce the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Constitution should not be interpreted differently because people are afraid."

No serious historian would suggest that the Union won the Civil War because Lincoln suspended habeas corpus. The imprisonment of socialist leader Eugene Debs did not help prosecution of World War I. The World War II interment of Japanese-Americans prompted an eventual apology and compensation, signed into law by President Reagan.

Americans will "look back in shame" at government excesses during the war on terror, Coughenour predicted. "History will look back harshly at how we have treated this situation."

Since 9/11, 390 people have been convicted in federal courts of terrorism-related crimes and sent to federal prisons. Military tribunals have convicted just three persons. Juries in federal court acquit only about 5 percent of the time.

Yet, howls arose after Attorney General Eric Holder announced last fall that alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would be tried in civilian court. The AG has since backed off and may do a deal with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, to try the guy before a military tribunal..

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed need not be tried in downtown Manhatten, Coughenour argued. He could easily be put in the dock on Governors Island, or at a military base, avoiding sky-high security costs.

What if we were to try a terrorist in Seattle, asked moderator Enrique Cerna.

"No problem: Bring 'em on," boomed Coughenour, who also handled the trial of Montana's extremist Freemen. "You work your way through it. That's what judges do."

"I'd be ecstatic," added Siddiqui, saying such a trial would demonstrate that America's system of justice is working.

All eyes turned to Metz, who quipped: "I'm putting in my vacation request."

The chief quickly got serious, noting "it would be a lot of work" to provide security, but that the Seattle Police Department can handle such contingencies.

U.S. District Judge William L. Dwyer, told University of Washington law students at their 1999 commencement: "The greatest political development of this millennium has been the growth of the rule of law -- the replacement of arbitrary, unpredictable, personal power with a regime of justice implemented through a legal system."

Bravo to people like Coughenour who defend the Bill of Rights, access to the law, equality before the law, the jury system and justice provided through a fair, honest and open court system..

As Benjamin Franklin famously said -- Michelle Malkin has tried to explain away the quote -- "They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty nor security."