Stardate 20010921.1537 (On Screen): Anyone care to read what Attorney General Ashcroft thinks is legally needed to fight terrorism? Among other things, he wants the ability to seize any non-citizen in the US, to lock them up for as long as he wants, and to deport them without hearings or recourse. Doesn't that violate the 14th amendment?
- All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.
- No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States;
- nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;
- nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Notice that the first two clauses discuss "citizens" but the last two discuss "persons". The distinction is clear and deliberate: due process applies to citizens and non-citizens alike. There is strong court precedent that this applies equally to the US itself (not just to the "States"). As such, sections 202 and 203 of this proposed law are blatantly unconstitutional. There are a lot of other things wrong with this; no wonder 
so many people are up in arms about it. What was Ashcroft (or his aides) thinking, anyway? (discuss)
