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Political Washington Abolishes Due Process Protections
tyranny
Political Washington Abolishes Due Process Protections - by Stephen Lendman
Main Street Europe and America face protracted Depression conditions. As a result, millions lost jobs, homes, incomes, and futures.
Human misery is growing. So is public anger. Rage across America and Europe reflect it. Gerald Celente explains the stakes, saying:
"When people lose everything and have nothing else to lose, they lose it."
Draconian police state provisions were enacted to contain them. Hundreds of secret Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) camps may hold them. Martial law may authorize it, claiming "catastrophic emergency" conditions. Senators blew their cover calling America a "battleground."
During WW II, loyal Japanese Americans were lawlessly detained. Today, social justice protesters and others wanting change are at risk. Political Washington's targeting them to assure business as usual continues. Obama's fully on board.
On December 14, the House passed the FY 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). On December 15, the Senate followed suit - ironically on Bill of Rights Day.
Obama will sign it into law. The measure ends constitutional protections for everyone, including US citizens. Specifically it targets due process and law enforcement powers.
With or without evidence, on issues of alleged terrorist connections posing national security threats, the Pentagon now supplants civilian authorities. It's well beyond its mandate.
Militaries exist to protect nations from foreign threats. Its Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) applies solely to its own personnel as authorized under the Constitution's Article I, Section 8, stating:
"The Congress shall have Power....To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval forces."
In America, state and local police, the Justice Department and FBI are responsible for criminal investigations and prosecutions. No longer on matters relating to alleged national security concerns.
Henceforth, America's military may arrest and indefinitely detain anyone anywhere, including US citizens, based on suspicions, spurious allegations, or none at all if presidents so order dictatorially.
Law Professor Jonathan Turley expressed outrage, saying:
"I am not sure which is worse: the loss of core civil liberties or the almost mocking post hoc rationalization for abandoning principle. The Congress and the President have now completed a law that would have horrified the Framers."
"Indefinite detention of citizens is something (they) were intimately familiar with and expressly sought to bar in the Bill of Rights."
Other legal scholars agree about all alleged criminals having habeas, due process, and other legal rights in duly established civil courts.
Military tribunals are constitutionally illegal. Since June 2004, America's (conservative) High Court made three landmark rulings.
In Rasul v. Bush (June 2004), the Court granted Guantanamo detainees habeas rights to challenge their detentions in civil court. Congress responded with the 2005 Detainee Treatment Act (DTA), subverting the ruling.
In Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, the Supreme Court held that federal courts retain jurisdiction over habeas cases. It said Guantanamo Bay military commissions lack "the power to proceed because (their) structures and procedures violate both the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the four Geneva Conventions (of) 1949."
In October 2006, Congress responded a second time. It enacted the Military Commissions Act (MCA). It subverted the High Court ruling in more extreme form.
Undermining fundamental rule of law principles, it gave the administration extraordinary unconstitutional powers to detain, interrogate, torture and prosecute alleged terrorist suspects, enemy combatants, or anyone claimed to support them.
It lets presidents designate anyone anywhere in the world (including US citizens) an "unlawful enemy combatant" and empowers him to arrest and detain them indefinitely in military prisons.
The law states: "no (civil) court, justice, or judge shall have jurisdiction to hear or consider any claim or cause for action whatsoever....relating to the prosecution, trial or judgment of....military commission(s)....including challenges to (their) lawfulness...."
On June 12, 2008, the High Court again disagreed. In Boumediene v. Bush, it ruled that Guantanamo detainees retain habeas rights. MCA unconstitutionally subverts them. As a result, the administration has no legal authority to deny them due process in civil courts or act as accuser, trial judge and executioner with no right of appeal or chance for judicial fairness.
Nonetheless, Section 2031 of the FY 2010 NDAA contained the 2009 Military Commissions Act (MCA). The phrase "unprivileged enemy belligerent" replaced "unlawful enemy combatant." Language changed but not intent or lawlessness to assume police state powers.
So far, military commissions haven't tried Americans. Henceforth, based on alleged national security concerns, they will be under draconian FY 2012 NDAA provisions.
Notably, Jose Padilla, a US citizen, was lawlessly held over three and a half years in military and civilian confinement as an alleged "enemy combatant." Charges against him were spurious. Yet he was denied due process, tortured, brutalized, dehumanized, and transformed in solitary confinement to mush.
Emotionally destroyed ahead of his civil trial, his lawyer said he resembled "a piece of furniture," unable to represent himself properly in court. In military detention ahead of his court martial, Bradley Manning's barbaric treatment may have left him less than fully able.
A Final Comment
For years, America's crept closer to totalitarian rule. Notably, the 1996 Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act eased surveillance and death penalty restrictions, eroded habeas protection, and smoothed the way for repressive measures to follow.
Post-9/11, they proliferated. Constitutional protections have been systematically eliminated. FY 2012 NDAA provisions destroy fundamental Bill of Rights ones, including Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment due process rights.
The Fifth Amendment says, "No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury.."
Moreover, no one shall "be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb....be compelled (to bear) witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law...."
The Fourteenth Amendment says, "All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are" US citizens.
"No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of (US) citizens..nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law...."
Overall, America's Constitution protects against unreasonable, arbitrary, or capricious laws not based on rule of law principles.
Supreme Court rulings affirmed Bill of Rights protections. In November 2008, Justice Anthony Kennedy sided with a majority ruling, saying:
"After carefully considering the relevance of the 10 inviolable rights that comprise the ideological foundation on which our nation is built, the court finds that these basic freedoms remain important for the time being, and should not be overturned."
"Until such time as it can be definitively proven that citizens no longer require the protections provided by the Bill of Rights, it shall remain the principal legal guidance for the United States of America."
Under Obama and the 112th Congress, inviolability no longer holds. Tyranny replaced it. America's no different than other totalitarian states. As a result, no one challenging state power is safe.
Denouncing imperial lawlessness can be criminalized. So can defending right over wrong. Constitutional protections no longer apply.
People power alone can restore them. There's no other way.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen [at] sbcglobal.net.
Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.
http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.
Main Street Europe and America face protracted Depression conditions. As a result, millions lost jobs, homes, incomes, and futures.
Human misery is growing. So is public anger. Rage across America and Europe reflect it. Gerald Celente explains the stakes, saying:
"When people lose everything and have nothing else to lose, they lose it."
Draconian police state provisions were enacted to contain them. Hundreds of secret Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) camps may hold them. Martial law may authorize it, claiming "catastrophic emergency" conditions. Senators blew their cover calling America a "battleground."
During WW II, loyal Japanese Americans were lawlessly detained. Today, social justice protesters and others wanting change are at risk. Political Washington's targeting them to assure business as usual continues. Obama's fully on board.
On December 14, the House passed the FY 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). On December 15, the Senate followed suit - ironically on Bill of Rights Day.
Obama will sign it into law. The measure ends constitutional protections for everyone, including US citizens. Specifically it targets due process and law enforcement powers.
With or without evidence, on issues of alleged terrorist connections posing national security threats, the Pentagon now supplants civilian authorities. It's well beyond its mandate.
Militaries exist to protect nations from foreign threats. Its Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) applies solely to its own personnel as authorized under the Constitution's Article I, Section 8, stating:
"The Congress shall have Power....To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval forces."
In America, state and local police, the Justice Department and FBI are responsible for criminal investigations and prosecutions. No longer on matters relating to alleged national security concerns.
Henceforth, America's military may arrest and indefinitely detain anyone anywhere, including US citizens, based on suspicions, spurious allegations, or none at all if presidents so order dictatorially.
Law Professor Jonathan Turley expressed outrage, saying:
"I am not sure which is worse: the loss of core civil liberties or the almost mocking post hoc rationalization for abandoning principle. The Congress and the President have now completed a law that would have horrified the Framers."
"Indefinite detention of citizens is something (they) were intimately familiar with and expressly sought to bar in the Bill of Rights."
Other legal scholars agree about all alleged criminals having habeas, due process, and other legal rights in duly established civil courts.
Military tribunals are constitutionally illegal. Since June 2004, America's (conservative) High Court made three landmark rulings.
In Rasul v. Bush (June 2004), the Court granted Guantanamo detainees habeas rights to challenge their detentions in civil court. Congress responded with the 2005 Detainee Treatment Act (DTA), subverting the ruling.
In Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, the Supreme Court held that federal courts retain jurisdiction over habeas cases. It said Guantanamo Bay military commissions lack "the power to proceed because (their) structures and procedures violate both the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the four Geneva Conventions (of) 1949."
In October 2006, Congress responded a second time. It enacted the Military Commissions Act (MCA). It subverted the High Court ruling in more extreme form.
Undermining fundamental rule of law principles, it gave the administration extraordinary unconstitutional powers to detain, interrogate, torture and prosecute alleged terrorist suspects, enemy combatants, or anyone claimed to support them.
It lets presidents designate anyone anywhere in the world (including US citizens) an "unlawful enemy combatant" and empowers him to arrest and detain them indefinitely in military prisons.
The law states: "no (civil) court, justice, or judge shall have jurisdiction to hear or consider any claim or cause for action whatsoever....relating to the prosecution, trial or judgment of....military commission(s)....including challenges to (their) lawfulness...."
On June 12, 2008, the High Court again disagreed. In Boumediene v. Bush, it ruled that Guantanamo detainees retain habeas rights. MCA unconstitutionally subverts them. As a result, the administration has no legal authority to deny them due process in civil courts or act as accuser, trial judge and executioner with no right of appeal or chance for judicial fairness.
Nonetheless, Section 2031 of the FY 2010 NDAA contained the 2009 Military Commissions Act (MCA). The phrase "unprivileged enemy belligerent" replaced "unlawful enemy combatant." Language changed but not intent or lawlessness to assume police state powers.
So far, military commissions haven't tried Americans. Henceforth, based on alleged national security concerns, they will be under draconian FY 2012 NDAA provisions.
Notably, Jose Padilla, a US citizen, was lawlessly held over three and a half years in military and civilian confinement as an alleged "enemy combatant." Charges against him were spurious. Yet he was denied due process, tortured, brutalized, dehumanized, and transformed in solitary confinement to mush.
Emotionally destroyed ahead of his civil trial, his lawyer said he resembled "a piece of furniture," unable to represent himself properly in court. In military detention ahead of his court martial, Bradley Manning's barbaric treatment may have left him less than fully able.
A Final Comment
For years, America's crept closer to totalitarian rule. Notably, the 1996 Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act eased surveillance and death penalty restrictions, eroded habeas protection, and smoothed the way for repressive measures to follow.
Post-9/11, they proliferated. Constitutional protections have been systematically eliminated. FY 2012 NDAA provisions destroy fundamental Bill of Rights ones, including Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment due process rights.
The Fifth Amendment says, "No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury.."
Moreover, no one shall "be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb....be compelled (to bear) witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law...."
The Fourteenth Amendment says, "All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are" US citizens.
"No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of (US) citizens..nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law...."
Overall, America's Constitution protects against unreasonable, arbitrary, or capricious laws not based on rule of law principles.
Supreme Court rulings affirmed Bill of Rights protections. In November 2008, Justice Anthony Kennedy sided with a majority ruling, saying:
"After carefully considering the relevance of the 10 inviolable rights that comprise the ideological foundation on which our nation is built, the court finds that these basic freedoms remain important for the time being, and should not be overturned."
"Until such time as it can be definitively proven that citizens no longer require the protections provided by the Bill of Rights, it shall remain the principal legal guidance for the United States of America."
Under Obama and the 112th Congress, inviolability no longer holds. Tyranny replaced it. America's no different than other totalitarian states. As a result, no one challenging state power is safe.
Denouncing imperial lawlessness can be criminalized. So can defending right over wrong. Constitutional protections no longer apply.
People power alone can restore them. There's no other way.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen [at] sbcglobal.net.
Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.
http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.
For more information:
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com
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In 1933 the Nazis and German Imperialist Military staged a Military Coup-d'-etat. That made the Nazis party and its tool, the Imperialist Military the Ruling Class. That is the content of German Nazis-Fascist Axis Power. Dictatorship of the Military over the working classes and their organizations such as trade unions, socialist, communist parties, and religious wise organization,which purvey the worman's liberation movements for Gender Parity at all levels.
This new law in the U.S.A. taking away 'due process' and assigning indeterminate sentences without any charges or even public trials is giving the U.S. Military the go-ahead to push the same sort of militarization of society that went forward after the Nazis coup in 1933. It is a reactionary counter-revolution backward step to a new dark age.
They have done this deed to stop the new reform and revolutionary movements from changing the system out of coal, gas, oil, and atomic energy, and into the non-pollution solution such as the renewalbles of wind, tidal, and solar power which transforms to electricity.
It is also to stop the 70% anti-Imperial War Movement, and the Occupy movement of the 99% for equitable wealth distribution, because they see the new movements for reform and revolution as dangerous to their one percent ruling class positions.
Make no mistake is an important theme from now onwards, because in 2012 they are preparing to implement. Lenin says that if Imperialism imposes an unjust war of aggression on the people, it is the duty of the people to rise and end the Imperial war machine and its manufactury.
The U.S. Constitution says much the same, where it says that if the elected American Government no longer serves the needs of the people, it is the duty of the American people to rise and reform or abolish it, and replace it with one that does serve the needs of the American peoples. Updated it might also say the plants, and animals now, because the crisis of World Capitalism today is so bad , that it existence is threatening the living organic web-of-life globally. Workers of the world, unite!!
This new law in the U.S.A. taking away 'due process' and assigning indeterminate sentences without any charges or even public trials is giving the U.S. Military the go-ahead to push the same sort of militarization of society that went forward after the Nazis coup in 1933. It is a reactionary counter-revolution backward step to a new dark age.
They have done this deed to stop the new reform and revolutionary movements from changing the system out of coal, gas, oil, and atomic energy, and into the non-pollution solution such as the renewalbles of wind, tidal, and solar power which transforms to electricity.
It is also to stop the 70% anti-Imperial War Movement, and the Occupy movement of the 99% for equitable wealth distribution, because they see the new movements for reform and revolution as dangerous to their one percent ruling class positions.
Make no mistake is an important theme from now onwards, because in 2012 they are preparing to implement. Lenin says that if Imperialism imposes an unjust war of aggression on the people, it is the duty of the people to rise and end the Imperial war machine and its manufactury.
The U.S. Constitution says much the same, where it says that if the elected American Government no longer serves the needs of the people, it is the duty of the American people to rise and reform or abolish it, and replace it with one that does serve the needs of the American peoples. Updated it might also say the plants, and animals now, because the crisis of World Capitalism today is so bad , that it existence is threatening the living organic web-of-life globally. Workers of the world, unite!!
Who are the real terrorists responsible for this legislation and practice? Those proposing that our Citizenship, Labor, Human, Civil, and Economic rights be removed, abolished, taken away - these are the real terrorists! How dare they bully and terrorize us by taking away our Freedoms of Speech, Due Process, Equal Protection, Habeas Corpus, Freedom of Assembly, Freedom of Speech, Rights to a Trial, Right to Vote, Freedom from Cruel and Unusual Punishments, Freedom of Press, Freedom from Posse Comitatus - those proposing such are the real Terrorists. The Confederacy Will Rise Again- oops, here it comes. Here it is!
There is one Constitutional Amendment that basically guarantees All other Amendments. That's the 13th Amendment. It came as a result of the great Civil War in America to abolish All Slavery. It was a suit for peace, a compromise with the Slavocracy to Abolish the great Evil of Chattel Slavery while maintaining "...slavery...as a punishment for crime..." Lincoln knew what he was doing with this compromise. He was abolishing the greater evil while allowing, at that time, a much lesser evil to spread across the nation like the cancer it is today, which now threatens to kill the patient America.
The 13th Amendment makes prisoners slaves of the state, but only after being DULY CONVICTED, which most are not!!
"Neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude, EXCEPT AS A PUNISHMENT FOR CRIME
WHEREOF “THE PARTY SHALL HAVE BEEN DULY CONVICTED," shall exist with in
the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
The current proposed legislation stated within this article violates the 13th Amendment because it denies that the "PARTY SHALL HAVE BEEN DULY (DULY, DULY, DULY) CONVICTED"!!! This calls for a Declaration of Civil War against the people of this country; both oppressed Black caste Citizens, Hispanic migrant immigrants, and so-called privileged White Citizens; it’s against workers, women, children, poor and middle class – not against the rich. Now, none of us 99%ers will be free from Slavery.
This is Treason against Citizens, a reclassification of Citizens into Slavery, like so many currently experience, and like others will soon know. The 1%ers proposing, voting for, and passing this law are Traitors. They've always been Traitors, and they seek to radically expand their slave territory to blatantly (this time) include the 99%ers. That means you and me.
There is one Constitutional Amendment that basically guarantees All other Amendments. That's the 13th Amendment. It came as a result of the great Civil War in America to abolish All Slavery. It was a suit for peace, a compromise with the Slavocracy to Abolish the great Evil of Chattel Slavery while maintaining "...slavery...as a punishment for crime..." Lincoln knew what he was doing with this compromise. He was abolishing the greater evil while allowing, at that time, a much lesser evil to spread across the nation like the cancer it is today, which now threatens to kill the patient America.
The 13th Amendment makes prisoners slaves of the state, but only after being DULY CONVICTED, which most are not!!
"Neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude, EXCEPT AS A PUNISHMENT FOR CRIME
WHEREOF “THE PARTY SHALL HAVE BEEN DULY CONVICTED," shall exist with in
the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
The current proposed legislation stated within this article violates the 13th Amendment because it denies that the "PARTY SHALL HAVE BEEN DULY (DULY, DULY, DULY) CONVICTED"!!! This calls for a Declaration of Civil War against the people of this country; both oppressed Black caste Citizens, Hispanic migrant immigrants, and so-called privileged White Citizens; it’s against workers, women, children, poor and middle class – not against the rich. Now, none of us 99%ers will be free from Slavery.
This is Treason against Citizens, a reclassification of Citizens into Slavery, like so many currently experience, and like others will soon know. The 1%ers proposing, voting for, and passing this law are Traitors. They've always been Traitors, and they seek to radically expand their slave territory to blatantly (this time) include the 99%ers. That means you and me.
NDAA 2012 effectively repeals the Posse Comitatus Act, which will allow the Federal Government to send troops to occupy states or counties.
I have established a new site, http://www.olivialarosa.com for the purpose of tracking NDAA 2012 and other offenses to Western Civilization. I hope you will keep it in mind as a resource for resistance to this law. That link is my first comment on NDAA 2012 on November 30, 2011. I hold a BA in Political Science (Law and Society) and history from UCSB and a Juris Doctor from UC Hastings College of the Law.
I have established a new site, http://www.olivialarosa.com for the purpose of tracking NDAA 2012 and other offenses to Western Civilization. I hope you will keep it in mind as a resource for resistance to this law. That link is my first comment on NDAA 2012 on November 30, 2011. I hold a BA in Political Science (Law and Society) and history from UCSB and a Juris Doctor from UC Hastings College of the Law.
For more information:
http://olivialarosa.com/2011/11/us-senate-...
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