Bill Text: MS HC22 | 2012 | Regular Session | Introduced

Mississippi House Concurrent Resolution 22 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Express opposition to provisions of National Defense Authorization Act of 2012.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Failed) 2012-05-03 - Died In Committee [HC22 Detail]

Download: Mississippi-2012-HC22-Introduced.html

MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

2012 Regular Session

To: Rules

By: Representative Currie

House Concurrent Resolution 22

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION EXPRESSING OPPOSITION TO PROVISIONS OF THE NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2012.

WHEREAS, signed into law on December 31, 2011, the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 (NDAA) contains certain provisions that single out United States citizens for military detention and subsequent denial of due process, effectively suspending habeas corpus and the civil liberties of citizens; and

WHEREAS, Sections 1021 and 1022 of the NDAA provide for the indefinite detention of American citizens by the military, without charge, without the right to legal counsel and without the right to trial, actually nullifying the Bill of Rights; and

WHEREAS, these provisions of the NDAA make a mockery of the democratic construction of the United States while shrewdly and audaciously attacking the citizens of this nation; and

WHEREAS, because the Constitutions of Mississippi and of the United States of America are filled with guarantees of individual liberties, the right to habeas corpus and the right to freedom of speech, the sections of the NDAA that offend traditional notions of liberty, habeas corpus and speech are repulsive to persons possessing a rudimentary comprehension of the foundation of this nation; and

WHEREAS, the NDAA provisions that allow for the indefinite detention of citizens are undefined and vague, permitting the military to interfere with the private lives of Americans without temporal or geographic restraints; and

WHEREAS, draconian measures disguised as legislative acts that grant the legal right to conduct secret kidnappings of United States citizens, subsequent indefinite detention, interrogation and torture, that turn the United States into a battleground, and that completely shred to pieces any portion of the Bill of Rights are the antithesis of the foundation of our nation; and

WHEREAS, these provisions of the NDAA are blatantly unconstitutional, and the endorsement of the NDAA will surrender citizens to suffer extraordinary anguish at the hands of their own government:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, THE SENATE CONCURRING THEREIN, That the State of Mississippi strongly opposes provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 that limit individual liberties and suspend habeas corpus for citizens of this state and this nation, and we urge Congress to amend the NDAA by removing these unconstitutional sections to conform to the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be furnished to the President of the United States, the United States House of Representatives, the United States Senate and to the members of the Capitol Press Corps.