Hedges v. Obama

Hedges v. Obama
CourtUnited States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Full case nameChristopher Hedges, Daniel Ellsberg, Jenifer Bolen, Noam Chomsky, Alexa O'Brien, US Day of Rage, Kai Wargalla, Hon. Birgitta Jonsdottir, M.P. (Plaintiffs-Appelles)

v.

Barack Obama (individually and as a representative of the United States of America), Leon Panetta (individually and as a representative of the Department of Defense) (Defendant-Appellants), John McCain, John Boehner, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Mitch McConnell, Eric Cantor as representatives of the United States of America (Defendants)
DecidedJuly 17, 2013
Case history
Prior actionsDistrict Court granted plaintiffs request for a permanent injunction of the indefinite detention powers of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (NDAA), permanently enjoined enforcement of § 1021(b)(2) of the NDAA by the U.S. Government and struck down § 1021(b)(2) as unconstitutional.
Subsequent actionsDistrict Court holding vacated and permanent injunction/enjoinment granted by District Court lifted
Holding
The plaintiffs lacked standing to pursue their claim because they could not show that they were harmed by the NDAA.[1][2]
Court membership
Judges sittingAmalya Kearse, Raymond Lohier and Lewis A. Kaplan
Keywords
Detention Law, Indefinite detention

Hedges v. Obama[note 1][3][4] was a lawsuit filed in January 2012 against the Obama administration and members of the U.S. Congress[5] by a group including former New York Times reporter Christopher Hedges, challenging the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (NDAA).[6] 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".[7] 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[6] 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.[8]

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.[9]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference SCOTUSblog20140428 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Denniston, Lyle (January 16, 2014). "A plea to cast aside Korematsu". SCOTUSblog. Retrieved April 29, 2014.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Reuters20120914 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Grant McCool; Basil Katz. "U.S. wins temporary freeze of military detention order". Thomson Reuters. Retrieved September 18, 2012.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference CNSKlasfeld20120914 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Bloomberg20120913 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference WSJ20120914 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Klasfeld, Adam (October 3, 2012). "Military Detention Law Extended as U.S. Appeals Finding Against It". Courthouse News Service. Retrieved October 6, 2012.
  9. ^ Hurley, Lawrence (April 28, 2014). "Supreme Court rejects hearing on military detention case". Reuters. Retrieved July 20, 2014.


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