Bullypulpit
Senior Member
On Friday, with little fanfare, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted on a bill that would restore the cornerstone of American jurisprudence, <i>habeas corpus</i>.
It was effectively stripped from the Constitution by the Military Commissions Act which essentially states that ANYONE, including US citizens, can be declared an enemy combatant by Presidential fiat, ANYWHERE. This means the whole world, including America, is a battlefield, and there are no rights on a battlefield.
For those who have forgotten, the Military Commissions Act
<blockquote> * Allows the president alone to decide who is and who is not an enemy of this country.
* Eliminates the Constitutions due process right to habeas corpus for people the president decides are enemies of our country, and permits the government to keep hundreds of detainees imprisoned indefinitely and without charge.
* Lets the president make up his own rules on what is torture and abuse, instead of simply following the rules in the Geneva Conventions; and
* Removes accountability for top government officials, which means that we cant know that torture and abuse has stopped and wont happen again. - <a href=https://secure.aclu.org/site/Advocacy?id=557>ACLU</a></blockquote>
Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and Republican ranking member Arlen Specter both supported the bill. This bill, S 185, makes it clear that the issue is not simply a partisan one, but rather a patriotic one, in the truest sense of the word.
It should be noted that all of the other Republicans on the Judiciary Committee voted against the bill...An odd contradiction since they DID take an oath to support and defend the Constitution, and that oath supercedes any loyalty to party and president.
It would behoove us all to contact our congressional representatives and urge them, in the strongest possible language to support this bill.
For the text of the bill and similar legislation in the House, go <a href=http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s110-185>HERE</a>
It was effectively stripped from the Constitution by the Military Commissions Act which essentially states that ANYONE, including US citizens, can be declared an enemy combatant by Presidential fiat, ANYWHERE. This means the whole world, including America, is a battlefield, and there are no rights on a battlefield.
For those who have forgotten, the Military Commissions Act
<blockquote> * Allows the president alone to decide who is and who is not an enemy of this country.
* Eliminates the Constitutions due process right to habeas corpus for people the president decides are enemies of our country, and permits the government to keep hundreds of detainees imprisoned indefinitely and without charge.
* Lets the president make up his own rules on what is torture and abuse, instead of simply following the rules in the Geneva Conventions; and
* Removes accountability for top government officials, which means that we cant know that torture and abuse has stopped and wont happen again. - <a href=https://secure.aclu.org/site/Advocacy?id=557>ACLU</a></blockquote>
Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and Republican ranking member Arlen Specter both supported the bill. This bill, S 185, makes it clear that the issue is not simply a partisan one, but rather a patriotic one, in the truest sense of the word.
It should be noted that all of the other Republicans on the Judiciary Committee voted against the bill...An odd contradiction since they DID take an oath to support and defend the Constitution, and that oath supercedes any loyalty to party and president.
It would behoove us all to contact our congressional representatives and urge them, in the strongest possible language to support this bill.
For the text of the bill and similar legislation in the House, go <a href=http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s110-185>HERE</a>
