Political Quotes

“I yield myself 2 minutes. Mr. Chairman, make no mistake about it, even with this amendment, the President of the United States and the Department of Justice will still have the ability to indefinitely detain people captured in the U.S.--be they U.S. citizens or not--without the normal due process of law. Habeas will be available, but even with this increased standard, it is a very minimum standard; and it does not afford the normal article III court rights that are in the Constitution for everybody else. The President will still have the ability to indefinitely detain people here in the U.S. This amendment is insufficient, first of all, to deal with the concerns that I think people legitimately have about excessive executive power over people in the U.S. The Executive will continue to maintain, under the Authorization for the Use of Military Force, the ability to indefinitely detain anyone who is deemed to be a covered person, an enemy combatant; and, yes, it is a slightly higher standard, but it is not the beyond-a-reasonable standard that is normally required to incarcerate somebody. The President doesn't need this power. President Obama has never exercised it. President Bush only briefly exercised it in three instances. He doesn't need the power. But to keep it on the books is a threat to liberty and a threat to freedom here in the U.S. The specific problem with this amendment is it carves out U.S.…”