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Supreme Court green lights detention of Americans

Lets stand arrests of 'anyone viewed as a troublemaker'

By Bob Unruh with WND

A decision by the U.S. Supreme Court means the federal government now has an open door to “detain as a threat to national security anyone viewed as a troublemaker,” according to critics.

The high court this week refused to review an appeals court decision that said the president and U.S. military can arrest and indefinitely detain individuals.

The firm of William J. Olson, P.C., which filed a friend-of-the court brief asking the court to step in, noted that not a single justice dissented from the denial of the request for review.

“The court ducked, having no appetite to confront both political parties in order to protect the citizens from military detention,” the legal team said in a statement to WND. “The government has won, creating a tragic moment for the people – and what will someday be viewed as an embarrassment for the court.”

WND reported when the indefinite detention provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act were adopted and later challenged in court.

The controversial provision authorizes the military, under presidential authority, to arrest, kidnap, detain without trial and hold indefinitely American citizens thought to “represent an enduring security threat to the United States.”

Journalist Chris Hedges was among the plaintiffs charging the law could be used to target journalists who report on terror-related issues.

A friend-of-the-court brief submitted in the case stated: “The central question now before this court is whether the federal judiciary will stand idly by while Congress and the president establish the legal framework for the establishment of a police state and the subjugation of the American citizenry through the threat of indefinite military arrest and detention, without the right to counsel, the right to confront one’s accusers, or the right to trial.”

[....] the court’s “attempt to avoid having to deal with the constitutional aspects of the challenge was by providing the government with prompt notice in the form of declarations and depositions of the … conduct in which plaintiffs are involved and which they claim places them in fear of military detention.”

“To put it bluntly, to eliminate these plaintiffs’ standing simply by representing that their conduct does not fall within the scope of 1021 would have been simple. The government chose not to do so – thereby ensuring standing and requiring this court to reach the merits of the instant motion,” she said.

“Plaintiffs have stated a more than plausible claim that the statute inappropriately encroaches on their rights under the 1st Amendment.”

 

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Federal government’s targeting of the press

Former CBS investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson told Glenn Beck Wednesday that people should be “standing up on buildings and screaming” about the government’s targeting of the press.

After she started aggressively pursuing the Fast and Furious and Benghazi scandals, it was revealed that both Attkisson’s work and personal computers were compromised. Though the Department of Justice didn’t admit responsibility, it was around the time the federal government was caught tracking and monitoring the emails of a number of other journalists, including James Rosen of Fox News.

“I had been warned for some time prior to the discovery of my computer intrusions that I was probably being monitored,” Attkisson told Beck. “I have very good sources in government corners. … This was way before the Snowden revelations and the Associated Press revelations, so it did sound a little funny at first. But once we were able to confirm some of what was happening, I — as I’ve said, I’m outraged.”

Attkisson said “people should be standing up on buildings and screaming about this,” and that it is unacceptable for the government to be “going after” sources and trying to “intimidate” journalists.

[....] “If all that we know today had come out the week after Benghazi,” she said, “it would have really been disastrous.” [....]