A group of individuals from a wide range of backgrounds have filed lawsuit against President Obama, Leon Panetta and six members of Congress.
The plaintiffs include rights activists, whistle-blowers, authors and professors among them Noam Chomsky and Chris Hedges who all believe their first amendment rights have been violated and feel imminent danger due to the President’s recent National Defense Authorization Act, the NDAA.
On December 31, 2011, President Obama signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (NDAA) a bill passed each year. Section 1021 of the bill provides sweeping powers of detention through vague and undefined terms Critics say it grants the government to arrest any American citizen without warrant and to indefinitely detain them without any charge.
On October 2, 2012, a stay against the permanent injunction was granted by a three judge motions panel of the Second District US Court of Appeals, pending appeal on the merits.
Campaign partners say as of now over 60,000 emails have been sent to Congress calling for the reversal of section 1021 of the NDAA notably it’s vague language which leaves many people, including journalists, war correspondents, out-spoken activists in danger of harm and a fundamental loss of constitutionally guaranteed rights.
