House to Consider Proposal to Bar Indefinite Detention After Arrests on U.S. Soil
By CHARLIE SAVAGE, NYT
WASHINGTON — The House is preparing to vote again on an unresolved legal controversy: whether the military may imprison terrorism suspects captured on United States soil without trial. The renewed debate comes as a federal judge has enjoined the government from enforcing a statute codifying the government’s powers of indefinite detention.
Lawmakers are considering amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act. One of them, sponsored by Representative Adam Smith of Washington, a Democrat, and Representative Justin Amash of Michigan, a Republican, would scale back a highly contested provision about indefinite detention created in last year’s version of the law, by saying it does not apply to domestic arrests.
The provision created last year expressed Congressional approval for the idea that the executive branch was implicitly given the power to detain, without trial, suspected members of Al Qaeda, its allies and their supporters when Congress in 2001 authorized the use of military force against the perpetrators of the Sept. 11 attacks.
That provision was hotly contested because it made no exception for United States citizens or for people arrested on American soil. Lawmakers could not agree on whether that authority already existed or should exist. Ultimately, they decided to leave the matter unclear, adding a line saying that the provision did not change the scope of detention authority granted in 2001 — whatever that was.
(More here.)
WASHINGTON — The House is preparing to vote again on an unresolved legal controversy: whether the military may imprison terrorism suspects captured on United States soil without trial. The renewed debate comes as a federal judge has enjoined the government from enforcing a statute codifying the government’s powers of indefinite detention.
Lawmakers are considering amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act. One of them, sponsored by Representative Adam Smith of Washington, a Democrat, and Representative Justin Amash of Michigan, a Republican, would scale back a highly contested provision about indefinite detention created in last year’s version of the law, by saying it does not apply to domestic arrests.
The provision created last year expressed Congressional approval for the idea that the executive branch was implicitly given the power to detain, without trial, suspected members of Al Qaeda, its allies and their supporters when Congress in 2001 authorized the use of military force against the perpetrators of the Sept. 11 attacks.
That provision was hotly contested because it made no exception for United States citizens or for people arrested on American soil. Lawmakers could not agree on whether that authority already existed or should exist. Ultimately, they decided to leave the matter unclear, adding a line saying that the provision did not change the scope of detention authority granted in 2001 — whatever that was.
(More here.)
Powered by Blogger
1 Comments:
FYI : Yesterday, in the wake of the Snowden reporting of National Security Agency’s secret surveillance program, the House took a vote to repeal Indefinite Detention without charge or trial that has already been enacted ... they re-affirmed it. I believe about 19 Republicans and 13 Democrats voted against the majority of their respective parties and the Minnesota delegation was all Republicans voting to re-affirm and all Democrats voting to restore our civil liberties.
Post a Comment
<< Home