Is President Obama Detaining US Citizens
If you are unfamiliar with how this website is structured, for each representative and candidate, we maintain a list of their stances on political positions and any controversies associated with that person. President Obama's profile on the 2012 NDAA shows his actions on the matter to date.
Those actions include telling the American people that he opposed the indefinite detention provisions as unconstitutional, and stating in the signing statement and in interviews that he would never use those powers. Unfortunately, those statements do not seem to be intended to be wholly factual.
Earlier this month a New York district judge issued an injunction on those indefinite detention provisions in a lawsuit filed by a number of journalists, including Christopher Hedges. Instead of shrugging his shoulder and stating that the lawsuit merely reinforced what he had already stated, President Obama had the Justice Department push for and obtain a stay on that order, allowing then to continue on with those powers until an appeals court rules.
A few days later, the President was interviewed by a reporter named Ben Swann and flat out asserted that he still thought those provisions were unconstitutional and that the courts would agree with him in the end. He seemed completely unaware that the courts had already "agreed with him" and that his administration was now vigorously fighting the court in that agreement.
Aside from the obvious complete and outright hypocrisy, something is very much wrong here. If the Department of Justice is merely doing its due diligence in defending a law (something it hasn't done in the past) then why the stay? Why not simply continue on in the appeals process? Better yet, why not admit that the ruling agrees with your stated opinion and celebrate an increasingly rare victory for freedom?
Is the reason for these actions that the President has already used these powers and that an injunction would require the release of people who could then attest to that?
That question was raised by Mr Hedges and must be addressed to the President ASAP. The fact that it took a local reporter to even broach what should be the biggest subject today shows how easily it would be for the administration to avoid addressing the issue before the election, especially with the Romney campaign in agreement with these powers.