Balkin on unlawful enemy combatants

[mmcirvin]

Jack Balkin explains in more detail how the Military Commissions Act could be used to indefinitely detain citizens. (I'm pretty sure this is what at least the administration intends, since it more or less ratifies what they did to Jose Padilla.)

Comments

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

By the way, I should also make it clear that I think the act is an abomination even if it is only applied to noncitizens. There's nothing in the Bill of Rights or the Constitution's habeas corpus provision that actually mentions citizenship status, for one thing; for another, noncitizens in the US may not be able to vote but they still have to obey the laws and pay taxes, so I see no reason they should lack basic constitutional protections.

[jwgh]

I understand that, as a matter of legality, citizens and non-citizens could be treated differently in this regard, but I have trouble in seeing how someone who had a moral objection to treating citizens in this way would not have such an objection to treating other people like that.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Right, it's the difference between "we're so great that these rights are prizes we deserve" and "here are some things our government doesn't do to anybody, because we are decent".