Hank Johnson: “I have a unique position in Congress in that I serve both on the House Armed Services Committee and the House Judiciary…”

“I have a unique position in Congress in that I serve both on the House Armed Services Committee and the House Judiciary Committee. The House Armed Services Committee is charged with the responsibility of protecting the security of America from external threats. The Judiciary Committee is charged with the awesome responsibility of protecting the rights of Americans to live freely and protecting that from internal threats. {time} 1440 I know that my service on the Armed Services Committee has been good, and I appreciate the bipartisanship with which our chairman and the ranking member addressed the issues for keeping America safe from external threat. I must commend you for, at very difficult times, in reaching this particular product. However, I rise in opposition to this defense authorization bill reached in conference committee because it does disturb the rights that Americans have come to enjoy under our Constitution. We have sworn to uphold our Constitution of the United States of America regardless of which committee you serve on. Yet we're about to give our seal of approval to a bill that gives the military the authority to hold American citizens captured abroad on suspicion of terrorism, and to hold them indefinitely without trial. This is a codification of an unfortunate Supreme Court ruling that is wrong, and it gives that ruling statutory legitimacy. Mr. Speaker, we must reject indefinite detention of Americans and defend the Constitution.…”