With instant news coming at us continuously on cable and online, there may well be Americans who are unaware of the strong reaction to Barack Obama’s signing of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2012. The law impelled Kenneth Roth, the executive director of the respected Human Rights Watch, to declare:
“President Obama will go down in history as the president who enshrined indefinite detention (imprisonment) without trial in U.S. law” (“U.S.: Refusal to Veto Detainee Bill a Historic Tragedy for Rights,” hrw.org, Dec. 15, 2011).
This includes U.S. citizens.
Just as ignited is Judge Andrew Napolitano, the senior judicial analyst at Fox News, who, irrespective of his ultimate employer, is TV’s most compellingly informed protector of the Constitution. He warns:
“Essentially, this legislation would enable the president to divert from the criminal justice system, and thus to divert from the protections of the Constitution, any person he pleases” (“Can Congress steal your constitutional freedoms?” WND.com, Nov. 30, 2011).
As if he were our king.
Sounds like typical election year bombast, doesn’t it? But as I reported last week, the president, without going to court, can cage a U.S. citizen only “suspected of association” with our terrorist enemies (“Congress, Obama Codify Indefinite Detention,” Sheldon Richman, The Future of Freedom Foundation, fff.org, Dec. 27, 2011).
The Tenth Amendment Center adds: “The indefinite military detention of any person in the United States without charge or trial violates the Fifth and Sixth Amendments of the Constitution of the United States (and) Article III of the Constitution of the United States” (“NDAA: Liberty Preservation Act,” tenthamendmentcenter.com).
How many students are learning any of this in the civics classes that are left in our public schools?
