Ron Paul's - Straight Talk 5/21/12: On Indefinite Detention: The Tyranny Continues
The bad news from last week's passage of the 2013 National Defense
Authorization Act is that Americans can still be arrested on US soil and
detained indefinitely without trial. Some of my colleagues would like
us to believe that they fixed last year's infamous Sections 1021 and
1022 of the NDAA, which codified into law the unconstitutional notion
that some Americans are not subject to the protections of the
Constitution. However, nothing in this year's bill or amendments to the
bill restored those constitutional rights.
Supporters of the one
amendment that passed on this matter were hoping no one would notice
that it did absolutely nothing. The amendment essentially stated that
those entitled to habeas corpus protections are hereby granted habeas
corpus protections. Thanks for nothing!
As Steve Vladeck, of American University's law school, wrote of this amendment:
"[T]he
Gohmert Amendment does nothing whatsoever to address the central
objections.... [I]t merely provides by statute a remedy that is already
available to individuals detained within the United States; and says
nothing about the circumstances in which individuals might actually be
subject to military detention when arrested within the territory of
United States.... Anyone within the United States who was subject to
military detention before the FY2013 NDAA would be subject to it
afterwards, as well..."
Actually, the amendment in question makes
matters worse, as it states that anyone detained on US soil has the
right to file a writ of habeas corpus "within 30 days" of arrest. In
fact, persons detained on US soil already have the right to file a
habeas petition immediately upon arrest!
I co-sponsored an
amendment offered by Reps. Adam Smith and Justin Amash that would have
repealed the unconstitutional provisions of last year's NDAA by
eliminating Section 1022 on mandatory military detention and modifying
Section 1021 to make it absolutely clear that no one can be apprehended
on US soil and held indefinitely without trial or be held subject to a
military tribunal. Our language was clear: "No person detained,
captured, or arrested in the United States, or a territory or possession
of the United States, may be transferred to the custody of the Armed
Forces for detention under the Authorization for Use of Military Force,
this Act, or the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year
2013."
The term "person" is key in our amendment, as our Founders
did not make a distinction between citizens and non-citizens when
determining who was entitled to Constitutional protections. As the
father of the Constitution James Madison wrote, "[I]t does not follow,
because aliens are not parties to the Constitution, as citizens are
parties to it, that whilst they actually conform to it, they have no
right to its protection."
We should not forget that our Article
III court system is a strength not a weakness. The right to face our
accuser, the protections against hearsay evidence, the right to a jury
trial -- these are designed to protect the innocent and to determine and
then punish guilt. And they have been quite successful thus far.
Currently there are more than 300 individuals who have been tried and
convicted of terrorism-related charges serving lengthy terms in US
federal prisons. Each of the six individuals tried in US civilian courts
for the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center are serving hundreds of
years in prison, for example.
Last week was discouraging and
disappointing to those of us who value our Constitution. That the US
government asserts the legal authority to pick up Americans within the
United States and hold them indefinitely and secretly without a trial
should be incredibly disturbing to all of us. Americans should check how
their representative voted. Politicians should not be allowed to get
away with undermining our liberties in this manner.