S.92 (sponsored by Sen. Tom Davis) is in opposition to the NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act. I’ve never been one to support many positions of the ACLU (American Civil Libierties Union), but they got it right when they said this of ndaa: “The NDAA’s dangerous detention provisions would authorize the president — and all future presidents — to order the military to pick up and indefinitely imprison people captured anywhere in the world, far from any battlefield.”
S.92 contains this language:
No agency of the State, agency of a political subdivision of the State, officer or employee of the State, officer or employee of a political subdivision of the State, acting in his official capacity, to include any member of the South Carolina Military Department solely on official state duty, or employees of any state or local detention facility solely on official state duty, may engage in an activity that aids an agency of the armed forces of the United States in execution of 50 U.S.C. 1541, as provided by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, or any subsequent provision of this law in the detainment of any citizen of the United States in violation of Section 3, Article I, and Section 14, Article I of the South Carolina Constitution.
There is a minority report on S.92 and an effort to place it on special order on Thursday 2013.02.14 failed. Here’s the vote: AYES: Alexander, Bennett, Bright, Bryant, Campsen, Corbin, Cromer, Davis, Fair, Hembree, L Martin, S Martin,, Massey, Peeler, Shealy, Thurmond, Turner, Verdin, Young NAYS: Allen, Campbell, Cleary, Coleman, Courson, Ford, Hutto, Johnson, Leatherman, Lourie, Malloy, Matthews, McElveen, McGill, Nicholson, O’Dell, Reese, Scott, Setzler, Sheheen, Williams
I’m more sensitive to civil liberties than I used to be. Those opposed to s.92 would be justified in that the ndaa may not be a problem…presently. But I would argue, that if/when detainment without due process is a problem, it will be too late to oppose it. It’s not a problem until it’s a problem.
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