Hedges v. Obama

rdf:langString Hedges v. Obama

rdf:langString Hedges v. Obama

rdf:langString District Court holding vacated and permanent injunction/enjoinment granted by District Court lifted

rdf:langString v.

rdf:langString Christopher Hedges, Daniel Ellsberg, Jenifer Bolen, Noam Chomsky, Alexa O'Brien, US Day of Rage, Kai Wargalla, Hon. Birgitta Jonsdottir, M.P.

rdf:langString Barack Obama , Leon Panetta , John McCain, John Boehner, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Mitch McConnell, Eric Cantor as representatives of the United States of America

rdf:langString The plaintiffs lacked standing to pursue their claim because they could not show that they were harmed by the NDAA.

rdf:langString Hedges v. Obama was a lawsuit filed in January 2012 against the Obama administration and members of the U.S. Congress by a group including former New York Times reporter Christopher Hedges, challenging the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (NDAA). The legislation permitted the U.S. government to indefinitely detain people "who are part of or substantially support Al Qaeda, the Taliban or associated forces engaged in hostilities against the United States". The plaintiffs contended that Section 1021(b)(2) of the law allows for detention of citizens and permanent residents taken into custody in the U.S. on "suspicion of providing substantial support" to groups engaged in hostilities against the U.S. such as al-Qaeda and the Taliban respectively that the NDAA arms the U.S. military with the ability to imprison indefinitely journalists, activists and human-rights workers based on vague allegations. A federal court in New York issued a permanent injunction blocking the indefinite detention powers of the NDAA but the injunction was stayed by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals pending appeal by the Obama administration. On July 17, 2013, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the district court's permanent injunction blocking the indefinite detention powers of the NDAA because the plaintiffs lacked legal standing to challenge the indefinite detention powers of the NDAA. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case on April 28, 2014, leaving the Second Circuit decision intact.

rdf:langString Amalya Lyle Kearse, Raymond Lohier and Lewis A. Kaplan

rdf:langString District Court granted plaintiffs request for a permanent injunction of the indefinite detention powers of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 , permanently enjoined enforcement of § 1021 of the NDAA by the U.S. Government and struck down § 1021 as unconstitutional.