Federal Court Rejects NDAA's Indefinite Detention, Issues Injunction

First time accepted submitter Arker writes "A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction late Wednesday to block provisions of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act that would allow the military to indefinitely detain anyone it accuses of knowingly or unknowingly supporting terrorism. The Obama administration had argued, inter alia, that the plaintiffs, including whistleblower and transparency advocate Daniel Ellsberg and Icelandic Member of Parliament Birgitta Jonsdottir lacked standing, but Judge Katherine Forrest didnt buy it. Given recent statements from the administration, it seems safe to say this will be the start of a long court battle."

Comments

Re:No worries, SCOTUS will give it the green light

[cpu6502]

The Court can only strike-down cases brought before them, and both Bush and Obama were very careful to make sure that doesn't happen. They drop the case before it ever has a chance to reach the justices. (Note that RIAA and MPAA use the same technique, to avoid getting DMCA or ProtectIP struck down.)

When the justices have reviewed cases before them, they've typically sided with the Constitution, such as striking down the Washington's law that effectively-forbade ownership of guns. Striking down a law that forced states to build nuclear disposal sites. Striking down warrantless searches of our cellphones. Striking down random stops along highways (unless there's a specific & urgent need: such as locating an escaped prisoner). The Court of the last ten years has done more to limit the government's power than the Court from 1940 to 2000 (which was expansionist).