Post date: Jul 19, 2013 10:19:3 PM
As darkness has fallen over the world under the global fascist dictatorship, in the United States constitutional rights are "null and void" as courts approve indefinite detention and torture.
Obama has exceeded the worst of George Bush, writes Stephen Lendman:
Friday, July 19, 2013
US Courts Approve Indefinite Detention and Torture
Stephen Lendman
Activist Post
America's a police state. It's ruthless. Iron fist authority rules. International law's quaint and out-of-date. US statute protections aren't worth the paper they're written on.
Constitutional rights don't matter. They never did for most people. It's truer now than ever. They're null and void. Executive diktat power rules. Congress and federal courts go along. They're complicit.
They support sweeping lawlessness. It's unprecedented. It affects domestic and geopolitical issues. No one's safe anywhere.
Obama has life and death powers. He can order anyone murdered. He can do so on his say alone. US citizens are as vulnerable as foreign nationals.
He can order anyone indefinitely detained. He can throw them in military dungeons. He can deny them due process and judicial fairness.
They can remain there uncharged and untried. They can stay there forever. They can be brutally tortured. It's OK. Federal courts said so. More on that below.
Section 1031 of the FY 2010 Defense Authorization Act contained the 2009 Military Commissions Act (MCA).
The phrase "unprivileged enemy belligerent" replaced "unlawful enemy combatant."
Language changed but not intent or lawlessness. Obama did what supporters thought impossible. He exceeds the worst of George Bush.
He promised to close Guantanamo. He lied. He's a serial liar. He broke every major promise made.
Also in this article Lendman updates the Chris Hedges case challenging a section of the NDAA.
In 2012, Hedges et al v. Obama challenged NDAA provisions. Last September, Southern District of New York federal Judge Katherine B. Forrest blocked Obama's indefinite detention law. She's the exception, not the rule.
She called it "facially unconstitutional: it impermissibly impinges on guaranteed First Amendment rights and lacks sufficient definitional structure and protections to meet the requirements of due process."
She added that:
"If, following issuance of this permanent injunctive relief, the government detains individuals under theories of ‘substantially or directly supporting’ associated forces, as set forth in” the National Defense Authorization Act, “and a contempt action is brought before this court, the government will bear a heavy burden indeed."
At issue is section 1021 of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). It states in part:
Congress affirms that the authority of the president to use all necessary and appropriate force pursuant to the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) includes the authority for the Armed Forces of the United States to detain covered persons (as defined in subsection (b)) pending disposition under the law of war.
"Covered persons" are defined as:
Anyone "who was a part of or substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners, including any person who has committed a belligerent act or has directly supported such hostilities in aid of such enemy forces."
Plaintiffs argued that broad, ambiguous language like "substantially supported," "associated forces" and "directly supported" leaves them and others vulnerable to lawless indefinite detention.
Legally meeting someone rightly or wrongly called a terrorist, staying in their homes, inviting them to speak at conferences or in panel discussions, interviewing them, or socializing with them can be called dealing with the enemy.
So can writing anti-imperial articles, exposing and/or discussing US crimes of war and against humanity, and participating in anti-war protests.
Hedges et al won. Obama officials appealed. On Wednesday, the New York Second Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Judge Forrest's ruling.
Three judges did so unanimously. They did it shamelessly. They called indefinite detention uncharged and untried OK.
False! NDAA covers everyone. US citizens are as vulnerable as foreign nationals. Appeals Court Judge Lewis Kaplan said non-citizens "failed to establish standing because they have not shown a sufficient threat that the government will detain them."
Plaintiffs' lawyer Carl Mayer said "(w)e're reviewing what our options are, but I strongly suspect that we will appeal to the Supreme Court."
The complete article is here.