On the recordMay 17, 2012
Later today, we will debate the National Defense Authorization Act. Just yesterday evening, section 1021 of last year's bill was given an injunction by U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest when she stated: In the face of what could be indeterminate military detention, due process requires more. As we debate this bill, we will have an opportunity to act on several amendments which will make due process a key part of this bill and eliminate the concerns that the judge had when granting that preliminary injunction. I take the opportunity today to remind us of some history. Dateline: Paris, December 20, 1787. In a letter to James Madison, Thomas Jefferson wrote, in regard to the Constitution of the United States that was being proposed: I will tell you now what I do not like. First, the omission of a Bill of Rights providing clearly and without aid of sophism, for freedom of religion, freedom of the press, protection against standing armies, restriction of monopolies, the eternal and unremitting force of the habeas corpus laws, and trials by jury in all matters of fact triable by the laws of the land, and not by the laws of nations. To say, as Mr.…
