Indefinite Detention Already in Practice

In a sense, President Obama's signing of the Levin/McCain detention bill changes little, writes Glenn Greenwald, because President Bush, and Obama after him, already exercised the power to imprison people without charge. The bill is intentionally vague on whether it allows the military detention of U.S. citizens on domestic soil “because the bill’s proponents and the White House both believe that the President already possesses these broadened powers with or without this bill.” Still, “there are real dangers to codifying these powers in law with bipartisan Congressional support as opposed to having the President unilaterally seize them,” writes Greenwald.