In the March 2013 issue of WestView News, I reported that in early February, the Obama administration appealed Judge Katherine Forrest’s rulingissuing a permanent injunction against Section 1021(b)(2). This little-known section in the National Defense Authorization Actwould permit the military to detain anyone, including U.S. citizens, who “substantially support” (an undefined legal term) al-Qaeda, the Taliban or “associated forces” (another undefined term). Those detained could be imprisoned indefinitely by the military and denied due process until “the end of hostilities.”
Finally, on Wednesday, July 17, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit overturned Judge Katherine Forrest’s ruling. Below is Hedges’ statement following Wednesday’s decision:
“This is quite distressing. It means there is no recourse now either within the Executive, Legislative or Judicial branches of government to halt the steady assault on our civil liberties and most basic Constitutional rights. It means that the state can use the military, overturning over two centuries of domestic law, to use troops on the streets to seize U.S. citizens, strip them of due process and hold them indefinitely in military detention centers. States that accrue to themselves this kind of power, history has shown, will use it. We will appeal, but the Supreme Court is not required to hear our appeal. It is a black day for those who care about liberty.”
