Lieberman's Citizenship-Revoking Law Slammed As 'Draconian'

[laughingliberal]

Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) has yet to formally introduce legislation that would strip Americans involved in terrorism of their citizenship and already legal experts, including a former Bush administration official, are calling it "draconian."

The Connecticut Independent is planning to unveil on Thursday a proposal that will supposedly free up law enforcement in their efforts to try terrorist suspects, by giving the State Department the right to revoke the citizenship of those suspects who are American.

The substance of the proposal has yet to be unveiled, though it does have supporters in the House and Senate. But already a host of legal officials are raising red flags. For starters, the legislation would not, on its surface, solve the most immediate crisis for which it is seemingly designed. Lieberman is lamenting the fact that the Obama administration read the Miranda rights to Faisal Shahzad, the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing. But even if Shahzad were deprived of his citizenship, his Miranda rights would still be read to him, so long as he was held in a criminal setting.

"Miranda applies if somebody's going to be charged wihttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/05/liebermans-citizenship-re_n_564981.htmlh a crime, and that applies to somebody whether they're a citizen or not," said Anil Kalhan, a law professor at Drexel University.

Indeed, what Lieberman is attempting to do is to pave the way for terrorists with American citizenship to be thrown into military tribunals once they are captured. And it would give the State Department the power to make that determination. <snip>

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/05/liebermans-citizenship-re_n_564981.html

It takes real work to maintain this level of asshattedness.

[Writer]

1. Let me be frank. Lieberman is a racist. n/t

[pinboy3niner]

2. Why don't we skip the piecemeal crap . . .

and just throw out the entire Constitution and the Bill of Rights? Then Lieberman could appoint himself "President for life," just like Papa Doc.

[laughingliberal]

3. An idea Joe could really get behind. nt

[bluestateguy]

4. This would be a great way to crack down on the teabaggers

as long as the law has a sunset provision for the day Obama leaves office.

That's what the Federalists did with the Alien and Sedition Acts for John Adams.

[laughingliberal]

5. +1 nt

[Ardent15]

6. Lieberasshat is a disgrace to America

nt

[Cleita]

7. These days the word Draconian almost

sounds like the strict Mother Superior in a convent. What he is proposing is a police state, fascist horror that I never thought we would be coming to.

[Scuba]

8. Sarah and Todd Palin would lose citizenship for AIP activities

See, it wouldn't be all bad... AIP stands for Alaska Independence Party.