Political Quotes

“I thank the distinguished manager of the bill, and I say to the distinguished senior Senator from Illinois, who is here, I will try to be relatively brief. But I would also say that seldom do we get an opportunity on the floor of the Senate to debate what is fundamental to this American democracy. In a sense, I am pleased this issue has now been aired publicly because I think we can address it directly. Senator Durbin, I also want to thank your colleague, the junior Senator from Illinois, Senator Kirk, for his cosponsorship of this amendment. The fact of the matter is, the original draft of this defense bill had this language in it: The authority to detain a person under this section does not extend to the detention of citizens or lawful resident aliens of the United States on the basis of conduct taking place in the United States except to the extent permitted by the Constitution of the United States. That was removed from the bill. Essentially, what we are trying to do is put back in that you cannot indefinitely detain a citizen--just a citizen--of the United States without trial. Due process is a basic right of this democracy. It is given to us because we are citizens of the United States. And due process requires that we not authorize indefinite detention of our citizens. Where I profoundly disagree with the very distinguished chairman and ranking member of the Armed Services Committee is by saying that Ex parte Quirin established the law for U.S.…”