Jan 5th, 2009
Posted by Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 6:33pm	National Security

Preventive Detention Must be Repudiated and Overturned

Saturday's New York Times profiled the ACLU's al-Marri case, in which we're challenging the military's indefinite detention of a legal U.S. resident in a South Carolina Navy brig. This case will be heard by the Supreme Court this term, and the government's brief is due on February 20.

It goes without saying that we're hoping for a complete 180-degree turnaround from the current administration's claim that the president can order the military to seize legal residents from their homes in the United States and detain them indefinitely without charge, and seeking an elimination by the Supreme Court of the dangerous precedent created by the lower court’s decision upholding that claim. ACLU attorney Jonathan Hafetz, who's representing al-Marri, tells the Times:

If, as President-elect Obama has pledged, the rule of law in America is to be restored…then Mr. al-Marri’s military detention must cease and the lower court’s ruling upholding the president’s power to order the military to seize legal residents and American citizens from their homes and imprison them without charge, must be overturned.

To learn more about Mr. al-Marri, watch a video of Jonathan and ACLU Legal Director Steve Shapiro discuss the case at our annual Supreme Court briefing.

Permalink |	National Security

Tags: indefinite detention

1. Vic Livingston Says:
   Jan 6th, 2009 at 12:13am

   Finally, the ACLU is addressing a form of domestic terrorism allegedly being committed by officials here in the "homeland."

   Now, please, address the nexus between domestic terrorism and the radiation weaponry that is being provided to law enforcement nationwide. This account is written by a victim, a mainstream journalist, who can't seem to get in to speak to ACLU officials, either in New York or in Philadelphia, perhaps due to a government surveillance program that is intercepting his attempts to freely communicate by phone or email:

   http://www.nowpublic.com/world/domestic-torture-radiatio n-weaponry-americas-horrific-shame

   OR (if link is rendered disabled):

   Members.NowPublic.com/scrivener

2. http://www.ryanhartman.wordpress.com Says:
   Jan 6th, 2009 at 12:45pm

   Obama will not do anything. It is up to us to take back this country and make it stand for something again

3. shannon foster Says:
   Jan 6th, 2009 at 2:33pm

   I say hang every one of the Muslim bastards. Do it publicly, so the rest of the world can see what happens when you bite the hands that feed you. I have no sympathy for any race that has been around for over 2000 years and is still the same whoremonger dogs that they were then. And the A.C.L.U. should be abolished as a protecter of these same animals. The middle east should be wiped off the face of the earth along with the A.C.L.U. and the Rainbow Coalition. Jesse Jackson, in my opinion, is the devil's advocate. And you dogs support him. The man is a false preacher and is as evil as the muslim hoard

4. Vic Livingston Says:
   Jan 8th, 2009 at 1:44am

   To: "shannon foster"

   Your post reeks of paid disinfo desperation.

   We, the people, actually believe what we were taught about the Constitution in their civics classes. We are taking our country back.

   The good people on the inside will not allow ideological demigods to destroy our way of life. Those who use officially-sanctioned torture and harassment to impose extrajudicial punishment on the people are the traitors; and they will soon find that their vast armies will not defend their heinous crimes against humanity, committed in the name of "keeping America safe" from "the evil within."

   Those who use hate and fear to deny us our liberties are the true traitors, the true "evil within," who will be brought before the bar of justice. Very soon.

   DOMESTIC TORTURE VIA RADIATION WEAPONRY: AMERICA'S HORRIFIC SHAME.

   http://www.nowpublic.com/world/domestic-torture-radiatio n-weaponry-americas-horrific-shame

   OR (IF LINK IS RENDERED DISABLED):

   http://My.NowPublic.com/scrivener

5. Angry TI Says:
   Jan 19th, 2009 at 2:47pm

   The ACLU isn't going to expose U.S. Intel's use of directed energy weaponry, because the technology is classified and would subject the ACLU to a direct and covert attack by the Intelligence community.

   The ACLU has known about this technology for years, yet remained quiet as a result of this, refusing to take on any cases presented to it by victims of electronic warfare.