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Senate Votes Against Allowing ‘Indefinite Detention’ of Citizens

Nov. 30, 2012 11:33am Liz Klimas

WASHINGTON (TheBlaze/AP) — The Senate has revived a divisive debate over civil liberties and the president’s powers as commander in chief, voting that Americans citizens suspected of terrorism and seized on U.S. soil may not be held indefinitely.

A coalition of liberal Democrats and libertarian Republicans backed an amendment to a sweeping defense bill that said the government cannot detain a U.S. citizen or legal resident indefinitely without charge or trial even with the authorization to use military force or a declaration of war.

Senate Approves Amendment on Indefinite Detention in Defense Bill

Dianne Feinstein pictured with reporters earlier this month. (Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

The 67-29 vote late Thursday was on a measure sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Mike Lee, R-Utah. The strong bipartisan approval sets up a fight with the House, which rejected efforts to bar indefinite detention when it passed its bill in May.

A portion of Feinstein’s amendment states: ”An authorization to use military force, a declaration of war, or any similar authority shall not authorize the detention without charge or trial of a citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States apprehended in the United States, unless an Act of Congress expressly authorizes such detention.”

Many civil rights advocacy groups that strongly oppose the indefinite detention provisions see this as a positive step, but some still have reservations. In a blog post for the American Civil Liberties Union, Chris Anders wrote that while the measure looks like it could help it might actually cause more harm:

It might look like a fix, but it breaks things further. Feinstein’s amendment says that American citizens and green-card holders in the United States cannot be put into indefinite detention in a military prison, but carves out everyone else in the United States.

Anders pointed out that the ACLU isn’t the only group concerned either. The executive director of the Japanese American Citizens League wrote the following to Congress:

The [Feinstein] amendment is of particular concern to the Japanese American Citizens League because of our historic concern stemming from the Japanese American incarceration experience during World War II. Nearly half of the internees were not United States citizens, and would not have been protected by this amendment. In consideration of due process and the rule of law within the United States, we urge you to oppose the Feinstein amendment, unless revised to protect all persons in the United States from indefinite detention without charge or trial.

The Huffington Post reported indefinite detention supporter Sen. Linsey Graham (R-S.C.) saying that in a war situation “the goal is not to prosecute people, the goal is to win.”

“How do you win a war? You kill them, you capture them and you interrogate them to find out what they’re up to next,” he said.

The $631 billion defense policy bill for next year authorizes money for weapons, ships, aircraft and a 1.7 percent pay raise for military personnel. The total is $4 billion less than the House-passed bill, and House-Senate negotiators will have to work out the difference in the closing days of this year.

The Senate is expected to vote Friday on a new package of tough sanctions on Iran targeting the Islamic Republic’s domestic industries. If approved, it would mark the third time in less than a year that Congress has hit Iran with punitive measures designed to cripple its economy and thwart Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

Sens. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and Mark Kirk, R-Ill., introduced the package of penalties that would designate Iran’s energy, port, shipping and ship-building sectors as entities of proliferation and sanction transactions with these areas. The legislation also would penalize individuals selling or supplying commodities such as graphite, aluminum and steel to Iran, all products that are crucial to Tehran’s ship-building and nuclear operations.

The penalties build on the sanctions on Tehran’s oil and financial industries that Menendez and Kirk shepherded through Congress in the past year.

“The Iranian currency, the rial, has lost much of its value, and Iran’s oil exports have dropped to a new daily low of 860,000 barrels per day, which is over 1 million barrels of oil per day less than a year ago,” Menendez said. “Through our sanctions and the combined effort of the European Union, we’ve forced the Iranians back to the negotiating table.”

Menendez said the new penalties “will send a message to Iran that the time for confidence-building measures is over and we do not want the Iranian regime simply to believe they can tough-out the sanctions.”

The legislation also would designate the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting and its president as human rights abusers for broadcasting forced televised confessions and show trials.

The United States and European Union have imposed tough sanctions on Iran that have weakened its economy. But Tehran has found ways to bypass the penalties, such as Turkey’s use of gold to pay for Iranian natural gas imports.

The Menendez-Kirk measure would allow the president to impose sanctions in cases of the sale or transfer of precious metals, targeting efforts by Iran to circumvent the penalties.

Iran maintains that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

The president has 90 days from the legislation’s enactment to act. The bill does include the authority to waive the sanctions based on national security.

Ignoring a White House veto threat, the Senate voted Thursday to add to its restrictions on President Barack Obama’s authority in dealing with terror suspects.

Lawmakers approved an amendment that would prevent the transfer of detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to prisons in the United States. The vote was 54-41, with several Democrats vulnerable in the 2014 elections voting with Republicans.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., argued that the 166 terror suspects, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-styled mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, should remain at the U.S. naval facility and not be transferred to any facility on American soil.

Responding to Ayotte, Feinstein said the United States not only can but has handled terrorist suspects, with 180 now languishing in super maximum prisons. Feinstein complained that the measure would erase the president’s flexibility.

In fact, the administration, in threatening to veto the bill, strongly objected to a provision restricting the president’s authority to transfer terror suspects from Guantanamo to foreign countries. The provision is in current law.

Last year, Congress’ approach to handling terror suspects divided Republicans and Democrats, pitted the White House against lawmakers and drew fierce opposition from civil liberties groups.

Current law denies suspected terrorists, including U.S. citizens seized within the nation’s borders, the right to trial and subjects them to the possibility they would be held indefinitely. It reaffirms the post-Sept. 11 authorization for the use of military force that allows indefinite detention of enemy combatants.

That generated a conservative backlash as well as outrage among civil liberties groups.

In arguing for her amendment, Feinstein recalled the dark days of World War II when the United States forcibly removed thousands of Japanese-Americans and placed them in permanent internment camps amid unfounded fears that they were spies and national security threats.

House Republicans indicated they would stand firm.

Featured image via Shutterstock.com.

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Comments (45)

dumpsterdiver99
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 9:43pm
Senator Dianne Feinstein, and the others who voted with you, I Thank you,

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Distress
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 9:08pm
Yes I would like to know what all those R’s are doing there. I mean I know that Republicans are also dangerous to trust but that many?

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whater39
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 5:53pm
Why is it so hard to give a person their day in a fair court. Either charge/convict them or let them go.

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- WarMunger_Al
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 6:31pm
  exactly. If you say he’s the enemy, prove it, if they are terrorists, it should not be that hard to show evidence. It is the most basic concept in law, why can’t our representatives figure that out? F-ing dictators and treasonous Bass Turds all of them. How bad has it gotten when Diane Feinstein is the one to push this….where are the supposed patriotic republicans?
  
  Report this comment
- G-WHIZ
  Posted on December 1, 2012 at 10:54am
  There is NO mention of ALL LEGAL-NON-CITIZENS…only “greencarders”!! She wants to make them [D]-VOTERS allong with FEDERAL-PRISONERS and ALL ILLEGALS!!
  
  Report this comment
Individualism
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 3:18pm
yes everyone should get a trial and obama is stalin if he blocks this.

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Guitar Master
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 2:31pm
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
From THE REPORTER
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

The clowns finally made, what appears to be, a reasonable vote. But wait, there must be a sinister motive hiding in the shadows. Was there a payoff, did it somehow offend a special interest group? Somewhere there has to be a reason for this unnatural turnaround.

Can anyone post the names of the clowns who voted against this?

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- Bonnieblue2A
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 7:26pm
  Senate Roll Call here: http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=112&session=2&vote=00213
  
  U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 112th Congress – 2nd Session
  
  as compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate Bill Clerk under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate
  
  Vote Summary
  
  Question: On the Amendment (Feinstein Amdt. No. 3018 )
  
  Vote Number:
  
  213
  
  Vote Date:
  
  November 29, 2012, 10:05 PM
  
  Required For Majority:
  
  1/2
  
  Vote Result:
  
  Amendment Agreed to
  
  Amendment Number:
  
  S.Amdt. 3018 to S. 3254 (National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013)
  
  Statement of Purpose:
  
  To clarify that an authorization to use military force, a declaration of war, or any similar authority shall not authorize the detention without charge or trial of a citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States.
  
  Vote Counts:
  
  YEAs
  67
  
  NAYs
  29
  
  Not Voting
  4
  
  NAYs —29
  Ayotte (R-NH)
  Brown (R-MA)
  Burr (R-NC)
  Chambliss (R-GA)
  Coats (R-IN)
  Cochran (R-MS)
  Cornyn (R-TX)
  Grassley (R-IA)
  Hatch (R-UT)
  Hutchison (R-TX)
  Isakson (R-GA)
  Johanns (R-NE)
  Johnson (R-WI)
  Kyl (R-AZ)
  Lieberman (ID-CT)
  Lugar (R-IN)
  Manchin (D-WV)
  McConnell (R-KY)
  Nelson (D-NE)
  Portman (R-OH)
  Pryor (D-AR)
  Roberts (R-KS)
  Rubio (R-FL)
  Sessions (R-AL)
  Shelby (R-AL)
  Thune (R-SD)
  Toomey (R-PA)
  Vitter (R-LA)
  Wicker (R-MS)
  
  Not Voting – 4
  Heller (R-NV)
  Kirk (R-IL)
  Rockefeller (D-
  
  Report this comment
- resme
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 8:27pm
  Look at all those R’s, Lulz.
  
  Report this comment
Old Ogre
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 2:13pm
We are on the road to self implosion. Oh well… There is one good thing about being an “angry old white man” and thats the old part. Dont think i will be here to see the **** hit the fan… I hope!

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fgarvin
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:46pm
Don’t imprison! Capture, Interrogate, Shoot in Head. I repeat, Capture, Interrogate, Shoot in Head. Do it on a boat and you don’t even have a mess to worry about ! Think of how many Obama phone we could have bought with the money spent to keep them alive!

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- Kupo
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 7:15pm
  So let me get this straight. You are in favor of the federal government executing people on sight just for being suspected of being a terrorist? WOW!
  
  Report this comment
- whater39
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 7:38pm
  I hope the same happens to you.
  
  How can you be against people getting a fair trail.
  
  Report this comment
- MontaraMissileMan
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 9:07pm
  Shot for suspicion of terrorism… You really think about what you just said. Especially when the administration has conservative leaning organizations and individuals listed as the likeliest sources of domestic terrorism.
  
  Report this comment
revelation2012
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:39pm
I have never felt so out of place in my whole life as I do now

We are so bombarded with the ‘terrible’ things that are taking place

it will be by the love and grace of GOD that any survive

We must keep the ‘faith’ remembering faith the size of a mustard seed

Jesus loves ‘us’ this I know ,,, He has gone to prepare a ‘place’ for us

Our Father in heaven sent the Holy Spirit to comfort and teach His will be done

remembering that GOD will wipe away ALL ‘tears’ no hunger no thirst no heat

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- LadyLibertykicksASS
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 6:25pm
  Trust me, we are all right there with you !! This feels like the beginning of a long, frightening movie.
  But we will be faithful, and hold fast to his hand. He will not abandon his children. We will pray and seek his face, he will lift our hearts and comfort the fearful. Stay calm….. His plan was written before the foundation of the World and he will not fail.
  
  Report this comment
blanco5
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:27pm
Don’t worry, everyone!!! prez islama will do an executive order and get it done…..so relax.

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revelation2012
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:20pm
these people we elect DO NOT READ the majority of what they ‘sign’

they bundle so many things together – there is NO excuse for any of them

they give money to programs that NONE of us “We the People” ask for

the military programs – weather modification – war weapons – will destroy

our air – water and our land – they steer weather – rain – causing drought

the drought resistant seeds GMO are destroying our reproductive organs

these companies dupont and monsanto are making billions – I suppose

they are doing their part to CULL mankind down to the allowed 500,000,000

the vaccines they are giving to our children are destroying them – unbearable

saddens me so – what I have discovered so far – no one really wants to hear about ,,,

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- AmericaMustBeFree
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:41pm
  You are not alone in your thoughts my friend. There are many many people who see the writing on the wall. What we have is evil men and women in Washington.. who are dictated to by the elitist.. and they want to reduce the population and they are doing that through some of the methods you speak of.. Monsanto should be held accountable for those who unknowingly have either lost their lives or who are ill because of the seed they sale to unsuspecting farmers and put that food on shelves for American’s to eat. I suggest to grow your own if you can, buy non GMO seeds altogether. Complain to seed catalogs that sale these seeds to people who don’t even realize what they are buying… I wrote to one seed company and they were actually shocked to learn what the seed they sale is doing. I told them I would never buy seed again from them that was not non GMO. People don’t even know that the bee populations who are disappearing are caused from Monsanto seed.. so if it kills the bee’s than it can kill us eventually. Isn’t it funny that cancer specialists seemed to be winning the battle and now cancer is up again…and more people are dying because of it. http://www.naturalnews.com/029325_Monsanto_deception.html
  
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revelation2012
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:58pm
MB are teaching Islam in the prison – those are American Citizens ,,,,

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- revelation2012
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:42pm
  ‘O’s new military possibly
  
  Report this comment
GhostOfJefferson
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:26pm
Well, it’s a start at least. And probably the only thing Feinstein has had her name on that I agree with.

Now, do it right, close the loopholes that allow *any* indefinite detention without the right to habeus corpus except in time of *officially* declared war (by Constitutional methods).

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- justangry
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 7:12pm
  Justin Amash posted that the bill did nothing. According to him, because the Feinstein amendment declared that the congress still could grant such authority which it already has. The 2013 defense bill will not supersede what has already been done.
  
  Report this comment
- soybomb315_II
  Posted on December 1, 2012 at 7:20am
  Well Well….Rubio voted against this modest measure….What a coward
  
  Report this comment
FlagWavingPatriot
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:23pm
It’s an absolute disgrace such a thing would even come up for a vote.

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bartjoebob
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:00pm
Still too much room for abuse. I don’t see a ban on holding indefinitely or a specific amount of time mentioned that someone can be held until being required to be released. The gov’t can still trump up any charge it wants, then hold indefinitely without trial. The “we’ll find something” machine is unaffected as more new regulations are added daily. The day is coming some politician like Dianne Feinstein will attempt to classify weekly church goers, or conscientious objectors (to democrat tyranny), or members of the NRA as terrorists, round them up and make them disappear with bills like this as justifcation

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- truthnstuff
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:14pm
  Exactly right. Unless we replace these commies with constitutional lawmakers we will be like sheep herded into holding pens.
  
  Report this comment
- BlueStrat
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:54pm
  Since the US government in it’s actions and behaviors fulfills the definition of “domestic terrorist organization” I say it’s every US citizens’ patriotic duty to “indefinitely detain” any and all US Federal officials, possibly even “renditioning” them out of the country in the hold of a shrimp boat or similar.
  
  Report this comment
RodT82721
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 11:56am
Wel what does it say when 29% of elected Senators, that took an oath to defend and protect our Consitituion voted against it?
Don’t bother to blame the 29%, blame the idiots that voted them into office.

We do get the govt we vote for, wake up America.

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ArmedAndReallyPissed
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 11:55am
Bill “the cigar man ” Clinton says……define the meaning of the word “indefinitely”. Gotch ya !!

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- Gary_K
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:25pm
  Yup. They plan on letting ya go after say 99 years or so.
  
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- BlueStrat
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:27pm
  The SCOTUS in a case brought against new extended copyright legislation has defined “limited time” (the phrase used in establishing copyright term limits) as meaning anything less than forever, so detention for forever minus a day would likely be viewed by this SCOTUS as not being technically “indefinite” detention.
  
  There’s a whole lot of people in the Federal government both elected and appointed that desperately need to become the models in some necktie parties. “How long is that Federal official going to dangle there?” “Indefinitely!”
  
  Report this comment
BehindBlueEyes
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 11:55am
“How do you win a war? You kill them, you capture them and you interrogate them to find out what they’re up to next,”

That all makes sense except when you have a communist calling the shots and running the country.

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- RedManBlueState
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:30pm
  Don’t forget, you break their stuff.
  
  Report this comment
TDrury
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 11:53am
“Current law denies suspected terrorists, including U.S. citizens seized within the nation’s borders, the right to trial and subjects them to the possibility they would be held indefinitely.” The law is very clearly unconstitutional. It is not even debatable, but nevertheless, Congress has scrapped the US Constitution. How stupid can these people be to not realize that when your political enemy gains power, all he has to do is designate you as a “terrorist” and you can be made to disappear forever without a trial. I fear that America will be destroyed by its own stupidity.

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NewFreedomBlog
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 11:52am
Anything is better than what we currently have in the law which allows the government to incarcerate citizens for any reason what-so-ever and detain them as long as THEY see fit. I applaud those in our government who support this potential change to the law.

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- Gary_K
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 11:56am
  It’s smoke and mirrors. The House already rejected the idea.
  
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Think_4_yourself
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 11:47am
Finally someone in DC did the right thing, I want to know who the 29 were that voted against this? That propasal had been on the minds of a lot of Americans.

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- Gary_K
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 11:52am
  Most of the republicrats in the House rejected the idea that as a citizen we have the right of habeas corpus.
  
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- Kupo
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 7:28pm
  Ayotte (R-NH)
  Brown (R-MA)
  Burr (R-NC)
  Chambliss (R-GA)
  Coats (R-IN)
  Cochran (R-MS)
  Cornyn (R-TX)
  Grassley (R-IA)
  Hatch (R-UT)
  Hutchison (R-TX)
  Johanns (R-NE)
  Johnson (R-WI)
  Kyl (R-AZ)
  Lieberman (ID-CT)
  Lugar (R-IN)
  Manchin (D-WV)
  McConnell (R-KY)
  Nelson (D-NE)
  Portman (R-OH)
  Pryor (D-AR)
  Roberts (R-KS)
  Rubio (R-FL)
  Sessions (R-AL)
  Shelby (R-AL)
  Thune (R-SD)
  Toomey (R-PA)
  Vitter (R-LA)
  Wicker (R-MS)
  
  http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=112&session=2&vote=00213
  
  Report this comment
ResistSocialism
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 11:43am
“It might look like a fix, but it breaks things further.” some things never change. The least amount of government needed will always be the best government!

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- M13
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 6:03pm
  Unless it comes to junk food, because I read that you thought that the government was needed to give tax breaks on healthy food. Now you say less government. What gives ?
  
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carpee
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 11:38am
a sneeze in the right direction…

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Gary_K
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 11:37am
bathhouse barry flobama will just ignore the will of CONgress and do what he wants.

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- Gary_K
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:13pm
  A case in point.
  
  http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/30/us-usa-fiscal-offer-idUSBRE8AT02C20121130
  
  flobama will do whatever he wants. CONgress will let him further the NWO agenda without any bottlenecks. They are, almost all, TRAITORS.
  
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