Steven Newcomb: President Obama undermines Constitution

Monday, January 9, 2012  

"On December 31, 2011, President Barack Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2012. By doing so, he thereby placed his imprimatur as President of the United States on a provision in that Act that codifies in U.S. law the military detention of anyone in the world, without charge or trial, and without a time limit. Even U.S. citizens can be held until the end of hostilities in a climate of war that has been called “generational.

As an American Indian, I find this development unbelievably fascinating, and unnerving. Think about the irony: The first African American President of the United States, a former civil rights attorney and professor of constitutional law, has now become a President of the United States who has helped to further undermine, and perhaps destroy, the U.S. Constitution. He has done so by signing into U.S. law a legislative provision—which he requested—that overturns the tradition of habeas corpus, and arguably institutes martial law in the United States."

Get the Story:
Steven Newcomb: The ‘Higher Law Background’ of the U.S. Constitution (Indian Country Today 1/9)