S. 3930 - Military Commission Act of 2006

S. 3930 [109^th]: Military Commissions Act of 2006. Cathy voted for this this on September 29, 2006. This is the famous law on trying enemy combatants. This law completely guts the Geneva Convention, preventing certain parties from even invoking it. This act basically allows the U.S. Government to keep foreign citizens indefinitely without charging them with anything if they are “awaiting determination” as to their enemy combatant status. Now personally, I think it is not wrong to make the government have reason for detaining anyone regardless of who they are. If the person really is a terrorist the government should presumably have evidence, and if they do not, why are they holding them?

Now aside from the fact as to whether the right of due process should apply as a natural law right (one given to all persons by God) if not a Constitutional right to a foreign citizen (especially if there is no declaration of war against their home country!), there are other important issues that effect U.S. citizens. Though controversial, many legal scholars interpret this bill as destroying a U.S. citizen's right to petition for writ of habeas corpus if declared “an enemy combatant.” Specifically, Sec. 948A states:

(1) UNLAWFUL ENEMY COMBATANT- (A) The term `unlawful enemy combatant' means--

(i) a person who has engaged in hostilities or who has purposefully and materially supported hostilities against the United States or its co-belligerents who is not a lawful enemy combatant (including a person who is part of the Taliban, al Qaeda, or associated forces); or

(ii) a person who, before, on, or after the date of the enactment of the Military Commissions Act of 2006, has been determined to be an unlawful enemy combatant by a Combatant Status Review Tribunal or another competent tribunal established under the authority of the President or the Secretary of Defense.

Notice that while the intent of the legislation was for this to apply to only non-citizens, in the definitions itself, the bill does not actually make a distinction between citizens and non-citizens. So if a citizen is just accused of engaging in hostilities agains the US, the government could arbitrarily apply the enemy combatant status to the citizen according to the literal definition in this bill. This should be extremely disturbing to people given the fact that increasingly Tea Party groups are being classified as terrorists in reports such as the MIAC report. I could go on about the severe problems with this act passed in the name of the “War on Terror,” which was partially amended in 2009, but I have other votes to discuss.