I wrote today about the dangerous provision of the current defense bill that would drastically expand the Defense Department’s ability to indefinitely detain terrorism suspects, shifting that responsibility from traditional domestic law enforcement to the military.
“The Senate is going to vote on whether Congress will give this president—and every future president — the power to order the military to pick up and imprison without charge or trial civilians anywhere in the world,” according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). “The power is so broad,” they claim, “that even U.S. citizens could be swept up by the military and the military could be used far from any battlefield, even within the United States itself.”
Senator Mark Udall proposed an amendment to this monstrosity that would essentially strip the bill of these expanded powers. The Senate rejected that amendment today in a 61-37 vote. So the provision granting the military broad powers to detain terrorism suspects without due process even if they are American citizens on American soil remains (although, as I wrote here, the president has vowed to veto it).
Rand Paul gave a damn good speech against the provision today, although he eventually was on the losing side. John McCain, the scoundrel, who co-authored the provision rambled on in his authoritarian way (via Hit & Run):
