One
New York Judge Is Holding Her Ground Against The Biggest Names In
Government
8
June, 2012
On
May 16 U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest upheld her decision
to block
the controversial indefinite detention provisions in the National
Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)
of 2012, and the Obama
Administration made
a request for a more detailed explanation.
The
defendants — Barack Obama, Leon Panetta, John McCain, John
Boehner,
Harry Reid, Nancy
Pelosi,
Mitch McConnell and Eric Cantor — argued that the order only
stopped the government from indefinitely detaining the journalists
and activists who
brought the lawsuit.
But
Judge Forrest has now clarified the injunction in a 8-page
memorandum released
Wednesday so as to "leave
no doubt" that U.S. citizens cannot be indefinitely detained
without due process.
(She
did allow
the section of the NDAA that authorizes the
government to indefinitely detain “those
who planned, authorized, committed, or aided in
the actual 9/11 attacks.”)
The
plaintiffs argued that the
law was overly vague and
that it violated the First (i.e. free speech/press) and Fifth (i.e.
due process) Amendments.
Forrest
agreed, and also explained to the government that "court
decisions ... enjoining enforcement of overly broad or vague statutes
may apply generally ... [and] may not be limited to the parties to
the action."
She
states that the cases the government cites to support its
interpretation of the order are "inapposite" (i.e. not
relevant), whereas the plaintiffs successfully argued that section
1021 (b)(2) "may imperil expressive activities generally and the
due process rights of anyone engaged in similar conduct."
Forrest
restated the fact that there is a "strong
public interest in ensuring that due process rights guaranteed by the
Fifth Amendment are protected by ensuring that ordinary citizens are
able to understand the scope of conduct that could subject them to
indefinite military detention."
ALSO SEE: This Amendment To The NDAA Legalizes The Use Of Propaganda On The US Public >
A
Federal judge in the US has ruled Washington cannot indefinitely
detain Americans suspected of having terrorist ties unless they have
been found in connection with the September Eleventh attacks. It
comes just six months after President Obama signed the National
Defense Authorization Act, which would have allowed American citizens
to be held without trial or charge. The judge initially ruled the act
was unconstitutional last month, but the Obama administration asked
her to reconsider the ruling.
Attorney
Carl Mayer says the act threatened Americans' basic freedoms.
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