May 6, 2012

MPAC kicked off 2012 with a campaign to protect our Constitutional rightsby pushing for Congress and the Senate to amend and pass the Due Process Guarantee Act (DPGA), which was introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) this January.

If passed, the DPGA will ban the indefinite detention of any U.S. citizen within U.S. borders, regardless of the allegation. While this is an important step to regaining our civil liberties, it needs to do more. The DPGA should be extended to include all individuals inside the United States as well as U.S. citizens travelling overseas.

The act was introduced in response to the military-spending bill, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which included new provisions this year that would suspend due process rights to people in the United States suspected of terrorism. It also allows the government to hold them in indefinite detention. Although President Obama has said he would not utilize the provisions, his verbal commitmentdoes not ensure that future presidents will also ignore the provision.

Check out our campaign Facebook page to learn how to raise awareness and take action. Join other mobilized individuals on college campuses as they take action to try and pass DPGA. Join others in setting up and going to monthly constituency visits with the offices of elected officials to keep this issue prevalent in their minds. 

At Occidental College, students organized a “lunch-talk,” attracting students from all different backgrounds and interests, on the implications of the NDAA provisions and how the DPGA will protect civil liberties. Students also initiated a letter-writing campaign to their representatives, published an op-ed about the act in the OxyWeekly and organized a constituent meeting with their local representative. 

These proactive students now are in the process of branching out their efforts to campuses, such as the University of Southern California, to get more students involved in the campaign to protect our civil liberties.

TAKE ACTION:

You can take action, too, to help get the Due Process Guarantee Act amended and passed:

• Sign the online petition on Change.org
• ‘Like’ our Facebook page to learn more about how to:
  • organize constituent meetings with your local representatives
  • set up a letter-writing campaign 
  • raise awareness among your own community

When discussing the Due Process Guarantee Act, here are some talking points to keep in mind:

• Justice is an American value that we cannot compromise because it is what separates us from the terrorists.
• The DPGA should be extended to include all individuals inside the U.S., as well as U.S. citizens and legal residents travelling abroad.

• The National Defense Authorization Act allows the military to arrest and indefinitely detain anyone in the United States accused of terror-related crimes without the right to due process. This is a direct violation of the Fifth and Sixth Amendments of the Constitution.

The Due Process Guarantee Act:

• Restores rights guaranteed by the Constitution

• Differentiates America's democracy from the tyrannical regimes of dictators
• Reaffirms the freedom that our troops and veterans are fighting for -- as we are no longer a free nation if our citizens can be detained arbitrarily
• Checks the power of military tribunals so that they are no longer able to detain activists or those labeled as a threat without giving the accused the right to a trial to defend themselves. Otherwise, this power can be used to silence critics of the military or the president.
• Reinstates the freedom that terrorists are trying to undermine
• Re-establishes the autonomy of law enforcement from military rule of law
• Restores the balance of power so that the Executive Branch does not have the power to indefinitely detain its critics without charging them and giving them the right to a fair trial