NDAA Indefinite Detention Opponents File Supreme Court Emergency Motion

melbo · Dec 28, 2012

Interesting Huff article with more interesting comments:
NDAA Indefinite Detention Opponents File Supreme Court Emergency Motion

Opponents of the post-9/11 use of indefinite military detention have filed an emergency motion with the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking to block a law they say allows innocent American citizens to be locked away without trial.

The motion, submitted on Wednesday, asks the Supreme Court to reinstate an injunction against a key portion of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012. Unless the court does so, the motion argues, Americans are "in actual and imminent danger of losing their core First Amendment rights and fundamental Equal Protection liberties."

Since January, former New York Times reporter Chris Hedges, Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg and other activists have been waging a legal battle against the U.S. government, arguing that the NDAA gives the military far too much leeway to imprison journalists or activists on vague accusations of supporting terrorism.

Lawyers for the Obama administration, meanwhile, have maintained that blocking the NDAA would do irreparable harm to the president's ability to wage war. They have also argued that the law applies only to people closely affiliated with al Qaeda or the Taliban, not independent journalists or human rights workers.

In September, NDAA opponents won a permanent injunction from a district judge against the detention provision, but it was quickly overturned by a circuit court.

Now the activists have taken their fight to block military detention to the Supreme Court. Their motion will be considered by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who by herself or with the rest of the justices could make a ruling within a matter of days. No matter what happens with the Supreme Court motion, the NDAA lawsuit itself will continue to be argued in the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where NDAA opponents filed a new legal brief on Monday.

Carl Mayer, an attorney working on behalf of the NDAA opponents, told The Huffington Post that they asked the Supreme Court for help "because as long as the NDAA is law in this country, journalists and activists like our clients, really any American citizens or civilians, are not safe from having the military detain them indefinitely."

"We don't know" whether or how the NDAA is actually being used on American citizens, Mayer said -- a point which could complicate proving the need for an injunction. But, he added, "that's the whole problem. It's secret government and it's secret detention."

The Senate voted on Nov. 29 to ban the use of indefinite military detention on American citizens in the U.S. in the 2013 reauthorization of the NDAA. But civil liberties groups said the Senate amendment was narrowly constructed and leaves open the possibility of detention for non-citizens at home or Americans abroad.

"Nothing has passed both houses [of Congress] and the president hasn't signed anything," Mayer said. "If and when he were to sign something, the language that was passed by the Senate is at best an incomplete fix."
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Check the comment section, thought this was on point:
NDAA Indefinite Detention Opponents File Supreme Court Emergency Motion

Interesting argument by the administration, " that blocking the NDAA would do irreparable harm to the president's ability to wage war". Problem is there has been no formal declaration of war, nor is there a recognized "official" state of war between the USA and any other country. It stands to reason this argument is moot. Problem is common sense has been thrown out in D.C., and most Americans are too stupid to vote any other way but Democrat or Republican. Terrorism is a criminal offense, not an act of war (unless a country is willfully engaging in sabotage of any country). And the USA is a innocent as a new born.

There is no Left vs. Right, only Tyranny vs. Freedom.
Look up "CAFR" !!!!

CATO · Jan 3, 2013

Check out WWF's response. What's that saying about giving up liberty for something leaves you with squat.

Exactly how do policies prevent violence?? At the beginning of a rape, does a woman yell "There's a policy against sexual assault!!" and the attacker says "Oh, my bad . . . I didn't know that. I thought I could just have sex with whomever I pleased. I guess I'll go now. Have a good evening."

NDAA Mental Health Provisions - Wounded Warrior Project

President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2013 on January 2, 2013. The NDAA is comprehensive legislation which sets policy and authorizes the budget authority of the Department of Defense (DoD). This $633 billion bill contains numerous provisions spanning research, program requirements, operation and maintenance, personnel, compensation and benefits, health care, and construction matters.
The NDAA includes provisions from Senator Patty Murray’s (D-WA) Mental Health ACCESS Act, crafted in cooperation with and supported by WWP, to improve mental health care for servicemembers and veterans. The NDAA also contains provisions to strengthen DoD policies to prevent sexual assaults in the military, improve Medical Evaluation Board and Physical Evaluation Board processes, and establish performance measures to evaluate warriors’ experience at warrior transitions units.
Read the full text of the bill.

The NDAA mental health provisions include measures to:

Require VA to make critical improvements to its mental health care services through a comprehensive assessment conducted by the National Academy of Sciences to determine the extent of unmet needs and establishment of accurate, reliable measures and staffing guidelines to assure that its mental health care is both timely and effective;

Direct DoD to develop and implement a comprehensive suicide-prevention program for the armed forces and establish a position with responsibility for oversight and management of all DoD suicide-prevention and resilience programs;

Direct VA to establish peer-support specialist positions at all VA medical centers and require DoD to refer OEF/OIF servicemembers to VA to be considered for such employment;

Authorizes Vet Center staff to participate in recreational programs that are designed to encourage veterans’ readjustment and are operated by a veterans’ service organization, such as Project Odyssey™; and

Expand the scope of Vet Center services to include counseling family members of deployed service members.

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NDAA Indefinite Detention Opponents File Supreme Court Emergency Motion

melbo Hunter Gatherer Administrator Founding Member

CATO Monkey+++

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NDAA Indefinite Detention Opponents File Supreme Court Emergency Motion

melbo Hunter Gatherer Administrator Founding Member

CATO Monkey+++

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