A Senate debate this week over a new 'detainee' provision in a bill that would allow American citizens on our own soil to be detained by the military indefinitely is raising serious Constitutional questions among many in the electorate. On Thursday Senators tangled over the bill, and Senator Lindsey Graham, R-SC, stated that the 'battlefield has been extended to U.S. soil.'
Graham supports the new legislation.
Constitutional watchdogs interpreted the statement as a green light for the military to target American citizens right here at home as possible terrorist suspects, thus giving soldiers the right to round up and detain indefinitely any person in the U.S. who is even merely suspected of engaging in acts against the government, all without a trial, due process of law, or a jury to find them guilty or innocent.
And perhaps the most disturbing aspect of all is the portion of the bill, S 1867, that would give the President the sole authority to declare individuals as 'enemy combatants' and thus subject them to being stripped of all of their Constitutional rights, placed under military arrest, and hauled off to some unnamed facility where they will be incarcerated indefinitely--all without a warrant, without a court order, and without legal oversight.
An important distinction historically has been made between the manner in which Americans at home are treated during wartime, and the manner in which enemy combatants overseas are handled. After the Civil War, the law has maintained that the U.S. military must not be used on American soil to police, surveil, track, arrest, or detain U.S. citizens. The term 'enemy combatant' has been reserved for soldiers on the field of battle--in areas other than the homeland--who in time of war can be detained and held indefinitely until the state of war is resolved.
Bill S 1867 would change that completely, with the full approval of Senators such as Graham, John McCain, Harry Reid, Dianne Feinstein, Joe Lieberman, and a host of others.
In a special report at The Liberty Papers, there are 2 videos of speeches on the Senate floor from Thursday, one by Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, which detail the violations of the Bill of Rights in the new law. But, as the report states, only 7 Senators voted against it.
The 7 who voted no to the violations of the Bill of Rights are: Rand Paul, Tom Coburn, Mike Lee, Bernie Sanders, Tom Harkin, Ron Wyden, and Jeff Merkley.
Various amendments have been offered to strip language from the bill that would prevent any violation of long-held Constitutional principles. The latest news on that process can be found at Campaign for Liberty.
Defenders of the bill maintain that it is intended to target U.S. citizens that join Al Qaeda only. However, according to bill opponents such as Rand Paul, language contained in other portions of the bill raise serious doubts concerning the new law's ability to prevent a President from misuse of power in that regard.
For example, a U.S. citizens who has merely stored up more than 7 days of non-perishable food items could be deemed a terrorist. If you are missing a finger or fingers due to an accident, you could be deemed a terrorist. If you own a gun and weather-proof ammunition, you could be deemed a terrorist.
A video of Senator Paul's Senate floor speech on this subject can be found in the top left corner of this article.
For readers who may be interested in contacting their own Senators to urge them to repeal the bill or to amend it to restore the Constitutional rights it stripped from citizens, this link will provide phone numbers to each Senator's office.
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