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SENATORS McCAIN, GRAHAM AND AYOTTE FILE AMICUS BRIEF WITH SECOND CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS DEFENDING DETENTION AUTHORITY
November 16, 2012
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators John McCain (R-AZ), Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) this week filed an amicus brief with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals defending Congress’s authorization for the President to detain al-Qaeda and associated terrorists pursuant to Section 1021 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012. The brief was filed Tuesday in the case of Hedges v. Obama, in which the trial court issued a sweeping injunction significantly limiting the government’s authority under both Section 1021 and the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force.
“We are deeply concerned that, if left to stand, the trial court’s decision would severely undermine America’s war against al-Qaeda and associated terrorist groups by unnecessarily constraining the President’s ability to detain those terrorists, as authorized by Congress and upheld by numerous courts,” said Senators McCain, Graham, and Ayotte. “More broadly, we are disturbed that this decision unconstitutionally impinges upon Congress’s power to authorize the President to wage war, including by removing and keeping our enemies off the battlefield to prevent future attacks.”
The Senators’ brief asks the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse the lower court’s decision, arguing that the Court ignored Congress’s intent in enacting Section 1021 and rendered a decision contrary to executive practice and established case law. The brief makes clear that Section 1021 does not limit or expand the authority of the President or the scope of the Authorization for Use of Military Force, and that it does not affect existing law relating to the detention of U.S. citizens or the right to challenge detention before a court. The Senators conclude: “[O]ur Constitution recognizes that core strategic matters of warmaking belong in the hands of those who are best positioned and most politically accountable for making them. The decision below defeats Congress’s ability to carry out its constitutional obligation to provide for the nation’s defense.”
Senators McCain, Graham and Ayotte, all members of the Committee on Armed Services, spearheaded the drafting and passage of Section 1021 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 though Congress last year.
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