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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFirst State to Defy the Federal Government, Virginia Nullifies NDAA
As reported in the previous article Who are the 399 and Why Should You Care?, the Virginia legislature in February had passed a National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) nullification bill in the initial version of HB1160 by both the House and Senate. However it was not without controversy. Originally the House had voted an overwhelming 96-4 in favor of nullifying the controversial and almost universally agreed as unconstitutional NDAA. If youre like half of American which has yet to hear about NDAA, it is a law which gives the President sweeping power to detain American citizens deemed as substantial supporters or associated forces of terrorists. Thats not the problematic part. I dont think anyone wants to see proven national threats running around loose. However this law allows for the apprehension of American citizens to be executed without due process, no charges, no phone call, no day in court and for as long as the government wants without ever having to explain to the media, your mom, your spouse or your kids why youve been held in Guantanamo for the last 50 years. Virginia was the first state to move quickly against this new law violating a laundry list of Constitutional rights. In the wake of a landslide approval of HB1160 by the Virginia House the initial Senate vote was a tie but within days thousands upon thousands of Virginians, private citizens and grassroots activists alike inundated the Capital with phone calls and letters. One Virginian I know said that he and many others had put their state senators on speed dial! The effort paid off with the next Senate vote yielding 39-1 in favor of the bill.
Virginias HB1160 reads as follows,
A BILL to prevent any agency, political subdivision, employee, or member of the military of Virginia from assisting an agency of the armed forces of the United States in the detention of a citizen in violation of the United States Constitution, the Constitution of Virginia, or any Virginia law or regulation.
http://cuttingthegordianknot.wordpress.com/2012/04/19/first-state-to-defy-the-federal-government-virginia-nullifies-ndaa/
Vincardog
(20,234 posts)Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)tularetom
(23,664 posts)In other words I believe if NDAA had been adopted by the cheney administration, they wouldn't have acted to nullify it, but this gives them an opportunity to poke Obama in the eye with something that has popular support
Nevertheless NDAA is a terrible and unconstitutional piece of legislation and whatever the reason that the VA legislature wants to nullify it, they have done a good thing.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)Virginia is just grandstanding; doing this for the sole reason of being anti-Obama...Don't think for a second those assclowns in Richmond give half a shit about civil liberties -- We're still a state with an insane attorney general who wants to probe and prod vaginas...