Via Greg Sargent, Chuck Schumer is the first Democrat to express tentative support for Joe Lieberman and Jon Cornyn's unconstitutional proposal to strip the citizenship of American citizens merely accused of being part of foreign terrorist organization:
But the proposal won the backing in principle of Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, who told AFP: 'That sounds like something I'd support, but I'd have to look at the legislation.'
Sure, the Constitution says the government can't deprive someone of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, but they didn't say anything about citizenship! Why wait till someone's actually convicted of a crime before you start punishing them? That's ... inefficient.
Again, this is culture-war counterterrorism. What's the intelligence or national-security benefit of stripping an American of their citizenship? That you can lock them up forever without actually knowing if they're guilty? That they can be thrust into an untested military-commissions proceeding or locked up forever without due process? It wouldn't even work as long as the person remains on American soil -- foreigners accused of crimes get the same rights as Americans. But it sure sounds tough.
What exactly is the point of being an American if the government can arbitrarily decide that you don't deserve due process based on mere accusation? What meaning does American citizenship have at all?
UPDATE: Schumer backs off, through a spokesman:"The senator was approached abruptly in the hall of the Capitol by a reporter before he had even heard about the legislation or what it did. Having learned about the proposal, he believes it would be found unconstitutional in this context and would also be ineffective. There are much better ways of obtaining information from terrorists."Good for him.-- A. Serwer
