Contradiction alert

The National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 is much more than just another piece of legislation that allocates tax money to the Defense Department.

The NDAA includes, in Subtitle D (“Detainee Matters”), a provision for the indefinite detention by the military of anyone suspected to have “substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces” in the poorly defined and apparently endless “war on terror.”

Under this blatantly unconstitutional provision, citizenship no longer confers the rights we hold, and the broadened use of the term “war” makes it limitless and meaningless.

Frankly, it’s an affront to everything the United States supposedly fights for; it’s an outright contradiction of democratic ideals.

Yet it was passed by Congress and sent to the president who, after initially threatening to veto it, signed it. President Barack Obama also added a “signing statement,” in which he noted that parts of the detainee section of the bill were unnecessary and did nothing to ensure the security of the United States. His administration, he assured us, won’t be abusing its constitutional powers.

Let’s remember for a moment that such signing statements, initiated by President George W. Bush in the previous administration, are of dubious constitutionality themselves. A line-item veto—which every president has wanted—does not exist. Presidents are required to either sign or veto bills as they are presented; they don’t get to edit them on the spot.

It’s hard to stress how outrageous the behavior of both the executive and legislative branches of the federal government has been in regards to the treatment of detainees during the past decade, and to what extent two presidents and, now, 12 Congresses have played fast and loose with the constitution.

We can only hope that the remaining branch of government—the federal judiciary—will at some point come to its senses and remind both Congress and the president that they may not simply ignore the constitutional right of citizens to trial, nor may they avoid the constitution by outsourcing the legal system to the military, nor may they do an end run around the constitutional limitations on their power by composing a “signing statement.”

We could call down a pox on both their houses, but the problem is, this is our house. Congress and the White House both belong to the people of the United States, not to their occupants. Both legislative infringement on our constitutional rights and the use of signing statements happen because we—the people—allow it to occur.

All the members of Congress and the president need to know that we will not stand for the further erosion of our legal protections, nor will we tolerate legislation by signing statement. Both are egregious offenses, and both must stop. We need to make our voices heard, via emails, phone calls, and good old-fashioned letters. Request the repeal the sections of the NDAA dealing with detention and the rejection of presidential signing statements as unconstitutional.