A new law approved by Congress and signed by Barack Obama yesterday essentially negates the 4th and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, regarding unreasonable searches and seizures, the requirement for a warrant prior to arrest, and the prohibition of arrest and detainment without due process of law.
Called 'the National Defense Authorization Act' (NDAA), the new law allows the military to detain U.S. citizens suspected of terrorism indefinitely, without a trial. For the first time since the Civil War the U.S. military will have the authority to engage in the pursuit and detention of suspected criminals on American soil.
Although the specific language of the original bill does not expand the powers of the President to detain citizens indefinitely without a trial, proponents of the new law say that in its final form it is designed to codify recent court decisions that would do exactly that, giving the President the authority to designate citizens as 'enemy combatants' who could then be detained without a warrant or trial, and sent to the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba along with some of the most dangerous terrorists in the world.
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