Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) wants to end the U.S. government’s ability to detain people indefinitely, arguing that it violates Americans’ Sixth Amendment rights to a speedy and public trial.
He has proposed an amendment to the yearly, must-pass defense legislation authorizing Pentagon spending that would repeal a 2012 provision giving the president the ability to indefinitely detain anyone based on the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF).
Paul, a Libertarian, has long-pushed for Congress to approve a new AUMF, arguing that it is a blank check for costly and unfettered war.
However, sources suspect that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is secretly blocking the amendment from being included in a package of GOP amendments that would be voted on and attached to the defense bill, since its inclusion requires consent from all senators.
“It is inconceivable that in 2018, a senator would block language to prevent indefinite detention of Americans. What happened to the rule of law? Lindsey Graham should own up to this and explain to innocent Americans why he’s fine with detaining them indefinitely,” said a senior Senate aide.
Breitbart News reached out to Graham’s office to confirm whether it was true, but did not receive a response on that specific question.
Graham, a retired colonel, has in the past supported the ability to indefinitely detain those captured under the current AUMF and has opposed limits on the president’s ability to conduct war.
But Paul argues the law currently would also allow American citizens apprehended within the boundaries of the U.S. could be held indefinitely without trial.
“Giving the accused their day in court isn’t a suggestion,” Paul said in a statement to the Washington Examiner last year. “It’s enshrined in our Constitution as a cornerstone of our judicial system. My bill reminds our government that the Founders did not put an expiration date on the Sixth Amendment.”
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Does anyone actually know and follow the US Constitution? Don’t talk as if you do and then not do it. If it is legislation that is not created by those that serve within the House of Reps and in the Senate, PLUS required to be “in Pursuance thereof” the US Constitution it is NOT law, it is not legislation of any type that is binding on the American people or on the USA. IT is NULL AND VOID. Null and Void. That is within the US Constitution in writing that all legislation must be in Pursuance thereof it to be… Read more »