Federal Court Throws Out Block On Indefinite Detention Provision of NDAA

Once again in the US you can be detained by the military indefinitely without trial.

Wednesday, the US District Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit threw out an injunction on the indefinite detention provision of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that had been ordered by a judge through Hedges vs. Obama.

In September 2012 a federal court in New York had issued a permanent injunction on section 1021(b)(2) of the NDAA. This provision allows for indefinite detention of citizens and permanent residents on just the mere suspicion of having aided anyone hostile to the United States.

Within a day of the ruling the Obama administration had appealed, placing the injunction under temporary suspension.

Wednesday, July 17th the decision was made by the appeals court to overturn the injunction.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges, one of the plaintiffs in Hedges vs. Obama responded to the overturn saying, “It is a black day for those who care about liberty.”

Truthdig.com quotes Hedges response:

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.

It is terribly troubling to know that the federal courts have strayed so far from the precious law under the Constitution which they are sworn to protect.

Now we are to trust the already proven untrustworthy executive branch with the ability to black bag American citizens on their own judgement of what is suspicious.

This story should send shock waves throughout the US just as the initial signing of the NDAA partially managed to do.

Read Court Decision Here

Paul Lawrance writes for Eyes Open Report, where this article first appeared.