Written by Texas representative Lyle Larson, the Texas Liberty Preservation Act says that “…Texas shall not provide material support or participate in any way with the implementation of Sections 1021 and 1022 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 within the legal boundaries of the state of Texas.”
Incorporated into the NDAA at the demand of Barack Obama, these sections allow the president “…to indefinitely detain, without charge, persons including United States citizens and lawful resident aliens, whether or not they are captured within the confines of the United States.” That is, anyone Barack Obama considers a terror threat to the United States or the American public may–at his sole discretion and direction–be rounded up and incarcerated by members of the U.S. military.
The NDAA not only authorizes this exercise of police powers on American soil by the U.S. military; it allows the president to detain “until the end of hostilities” anyone he believes to have “substantially supported” al Qaeda, the Taliban, or “associated forces.” Those subjected to this arbitrary exercise of presidential power would face an indefinite period of imprisonment with no right of habeas corpus, no right to trial, no right to present proof of innocence, and no method of appeal. It makes for an utter abrogation of constitutional protections.
But State Representative Larson will have none of it as he seeks to shield the people of Texas from a law that Republicans in the U.S. Congress could not wait to pass. “Sections 1021 and 1022 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 are in direct contravention to the limits of federal power as stated in Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution and are in violation of the Texas constitution,” writes Larson in his Act.
The prospective Texas law relies for its authority and legitimacy on the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. “The Tenth Amendment…provides the United States federal government authorization to exercise only those powers delegated to it in the Constitution (Article 1, Section Eight) and nothing more,” writes Larson. And the NDAA was in no way created according to “…[the] powers delegated to [congress] in the Constitution.”
In April, Virginia passed HB 1160, making it illegal for anyone to accommodate the NDAA in that state. And as of November 19th, 16 states have refused to permit the creation of ObamaCare exchanges within their borders. With the corrupt, Marxist Obama administration in charge in Washington DC and the weak-kneed Republican Party a thoroughly undependable champion of individual liberty, it will be up to Republican-run state legislatures and non-RINO Governors to halt the progress of the imperial presidency.
The American public must make their voices heard at the state level on every important issue.
The law is an historic threat because it codifies indefinite military detention without charge or trial into law for the first time in American history. It could permit the president – and all future presidents – to order the military to imprison indefinitely civilians captured far from any battlefield without charge or trial.
This kind of sweeping detention power is completely at odds with our American values, violates the Constitution, and corrodes our Nation’s commitment to the rule of law, which generations have fought to preserve.
The breadth of the NDAA’s worldwide detention authority violates the Constitution and international law because it is not limited to people captured in an actual armed conflict, as required by the laws of war.
Under the Bush administration, claims of worldwide detention authority were used to hold even a U.S. citizen captured on U.S. soil in military custody, and many in Congress assert that the NDAA should be used in the same way. The ACLU does not believe that the NDAA authorizes military detention of American citizens or anyone else in the United States. Any president’s claim of domestic military detention authority under the NDAA would be unconstitutional and illegal.
Nevertheless, there is substantial public debate and uncertainty around whether Sections 1021 and 1022 of the NDAA could be read even to repeal the Posse Comitatus Act and authorize indefinite military detention without charge or trial within the United States.
The law does not require even an allegation that a detained person caused any harm or threat of harm to the United States or to any U.S. interest. Mere allegation of membership in, or support of, an alleged terrorist group could be the basis for indefinite detention. Under the American justice system, we don’t just lock people up indefinitely based on suspicion.
Congress and the president should clean up the mess they created. Congress should repeal the NDAA’s detention provisions.
More than ten years after the 9/11 attacks, with the United States withdrawing from Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States should not be asserting new worldwide authority for the military to imprison persons seized in any country.
We have seen how disregard for the rule of law has disastrous results for America’s standing in the world. It is time for a return to the rule of law. It is time to turn that page.
I think we are also seeing the beginning of blossom of a government of tyranny that the world may never be able to stop. Consider it that way for a moment.
Yes, the NDAA is a major problem! My senator Jeff Merkley has pointed that out, however right wing groups like the NRA have said known thing, but the ACLU has.
The law is an historic threat because it codifies indefinite military detention without charge or trial into law for the first time in American history. It could permit the president – and all future presidents – to order the military to imprison indefinitely civilians captured far from any battlefield without charge or trial.
This kind of sweeping detention power is completely at odds with our American values, violates the Constitution, and corrodes our Nation’s commitment to the rule of law, which generations have fought to preserve.
The breadth of the NDAA’s worldwide detention authority violates the Constitution and international law because it is not limited to people captured in an actual armed conflict, as required by the laws of war.
Under the Bush administration, claims of worldwide detention authority were used to hold even a U.S. citizen captured on U.S. soil in military custody, and many in Congress assert that the NDAA should be used in the same way. The ACLU does not believe that the NDAA authorizes military detention of American citizens or anyone else in the United States. Any president’s claim of domestic military detention authority under the NDAA would be unconstitutional and illegal.
Nevertheless, there is substantial public debate and uncertainty around whether Sections 1021 and 1022 of the NDAA could be read even to repeal the Posse Comitatus Act and authorize indefinite military detention without charge or trial within the United States.
The law does not require even an allegation that a detained person caused any harm or threat of harm to the United States or to any U.S. interest. Mere allegation of membership in, or support of, an alleged terrorist group could be the basis for indefinite detention. Under the American justice system, we don’t just lock people up indefinitely based on suspicion.
Congress and the president should clean up the mess they created. Congress should repeal the NDAA’s detention provisions.
More than ten years after the 9/11 attacks, with the United States withdrawing from Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States should not be asserting new worldwide authority for the military to imprison persons seized in any country.
We have seen how disregard for the rule of law has disastrous results for America’s standing in the world. It is time for a return to the rule of law. It is time to turn that page.
Anything Bush could do
Obama does better!
I feel so much safer now!
__________________
“The fact that we are here today to debate raising America 's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the US Government cannot pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies. Increasing America 's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. ... Americans deserve better.”
~ Senator Barack H. Obama, March 2006
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