Overcoming an initially "skeptical" federal judge, opponents of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act - which allows the military to indefinitely detain anyone it suspects "substantially supported" al-Qaida, the Taliban or "associated forces" - brought strong arguments Thursday to a case once believed to be quixotic.
Prominent writers and activists - led by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges - met in court for the first time for a hearing challenging the law, which President Barack Obama signed on New Year's Eve. The bill is also known as the Homeland Battlefield law.
Buried within the 565-page statute, opponents said, is a short paragraph that makes political activists and muckraking journalists susceptible to indefinite military detention for exercising free speech.
Section 1021 (b)(2) allows the military to detain anyone it suspects "substantially supported" al-Qaida, the Taliban or "associated forces," and to keep them detained until "the end of hostilities."
Hedges and others claim those words are so vague they could justify indefinite detention of political dissidents without due process.
As the hearing began, U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest , , , ,
You can read the whole story at Courthouse News.
Fascinating! I loved the judge's question: "They make laws for a reason, don't they?"
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