http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/...315.html?1347541975&ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009
WASHINGTON -- Civil liberties groups are asking the Obama administration to stand down and give up defending America's law allowing the indefinite detention of terrorism suspects after a judge Wednesday issued a permanent injunction against it.
The indefinite detention law -- contained in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 -- codified the post-9/11 practice of having the military jail suspects, including Americans, and hold them without trial.
Federal Judge Katherine Forrest reaffirmed on Wednesday her May ruling that the provision was unconstitutional, and made the ruling permanent. She had previously found that the law could be used to imprison activists and journalists without trial, noting that it does not define what it means to substantially "support" Al Qaeda or "associated" forces.
The detention provision in the NDAA affirms the administration's right to detain a "person who was a part of or substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces."
Forrest found that reporters who talk to and write about someone who could be defined as being part of an "associated force" could be deemed to be substantially supporting them.
"First Amendment rights are guaranteed by the Constitution and cannot be legislated away," Forrest said in Wednesday's new ruling. "This Court rejects the Government's suggestion that American citizens can be placed in military detention indefinitely, for acts they could not predict might subject them to detention."
More at link...
WASHINGTON -- Civil liberties groups are asking the Obama administration to stand down and give up defending America's law allowing the indefinite detention of terrorism suspects after a judge Wednesday issued a permanent injunction against it.
The indefinite detention law -- contained in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 -- codified the post-9/11 practice of having the military jail suspects, including Americans, and hold them without trial.
Federal Judge Katherine Forrest reaffirmed on Wednesday her May ruling that the provision was unconstitutional, and made the ruling permanent. She had previously found that the law could be used to imprison activists and journalists without trial, noting that it does not define what it means to substantially "support" Al Qaeda or "associated" forces.
The detention provision in the NDAA affirms the administration's right to detain a "person who was a part of or substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces."
Forrest found that reporters who talk to and write about someone who could be defined as being part of an "associated force" could be deemed to be substantially supporting them.
"First Amendment rights are guaranteed by the Constitution and cannot be legislated away," Forrest said in Wednesday's new ruling. "This Court rejects the Government's suggestion that American citizens can be placed in military detention indefinitely, for acts they could not predict might subject them to detention."
More at link...
