Lawmakers in Idaho voted unanimously Wednesday morning to move forward legislation that would prohibit the indefinite detainment of Americans by the federal government or anyone else in that state. If passed into law, the bill would nullify unconstitutional provisions of the infamous 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which purported to authorize the capture and imprisonment of citizens by the military without any semblance of due process. While some local governments in Idaho have already passed similar measures, activists and lawmakers say it is important that residents all over the state be protected from the unconstitutional abuses by the federal government. After being approved in a committee hearing, the measure now moves on to be formally considered by the legislature.
The indefinite detention provisions of the 2012 NDAA, passed by Congress and signed by Obama, pretended to authorize the U.S. military to arrest and detain indefinitely anyone whom federal officials claim is a “suspected terrorist.” Under the scheme, even U.S. citizens captured in America could be held in a military facility forever without even being accused of wrongdoing or formally charged with a crime — much less having a trial by jury, legal counsel, or an opportunity to present evidence and contest the detainment. As neoconservative globalist U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) put it while shilling for the measure, “it designates the world as the battlefield, including the homeland.” Graham also ridiculed those who would someday be detained under the measure: “Shut up! You don’t get a lawyer!”
Ostensibly a tool for waging the global so-called “terror war” even within the “Homeland,” critics say the NDAA measure is a blatant violation of the U.S. Constitution, the God-given rights protected under it, and Anglo-Saxon legal traditions of due process going back more than a millennium. In fact, so outrageous are the relevant provisions trampling due process and other inalienable rights that the scheme sparked rare unity across the political spectrum. At least on indefinite detention by the military, conservatives, liberals, Tea Party activists, constitutionalists, Occupy Wall Street protesters, and more have all joined forces — and not just because all of those groups and many others have been identified as potential extremists or terrorists in government documents.
The bipartisan unity on this issue was evident in Idaho, where the legislation to nullify the NDAA was sponsored by a Republican and a Democrat, and was supported by activists on the Left, the Right, and everywhere in-between. Lawmakers from both parties also voted unanimously to move the bill forward after its initial hearing in committee, known as a “print” hearing because it determines whether the bill will be printed and considered by the legislature. One of its key sponsors also emphasized the trans-partisan nature of the support for the legislation protecting fundamental, inalienable rights of American citizens.
