From Common Dreams: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/07/18-4
US troops now free to ‘seize US citizens, strip them of due process and hold them indefinitely,’ says Hedges
Jacob Chamberlain
Published on Thursday, July 18, 2013 by Common Dreams
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit cast away a case Wednesday brought by journalist Chris Hedges and other prominent civil rights proponents that sought to render the indefinite detention of American citizens, made possible by the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012, unconstitutional.
Calling it a “black day for for those who care about liberty,” Hedges said the ruling makes it possible for the military to “use troops on the streets to seize U.S. citizens, strip them of due process and hold them indefinitely in military detention centers.”
“It’s sad that we can’t even find any kind of redress through the courts,” Hedges told the Huffington Post. “There’s nowhere left to turn to in this really egregious assault against our most basic civil liberties.”
The plaintiffs will appeal the ruling but the U.S. Supreme Court is not required to take up the case.
It seems to be the end of the road for Hedges v. Obama, which has stretched over the course of 16 months. The plaintiffs, who also include Noam Chomsky, Daniel Ellsberg, Alexa O’Brien and others, had argued that the sections of the NDAA which allow the military to indefinitely detain anyone who communicated with a suspected terrorists would essentially criminalize journalists and other U.S. citizens.
Read Hedges full statement below:
Continue reading at: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/07/18-4
