"Rushing Off a Cliff:" Congress Takes Up Torture

“We don’t blame the Democrats for being frightened. The Republicans have made it clear that they’ll use any opportunity to brand anyone who votes against this bill as a terrorist enabler. But Americans of the future won’t remember the pragmatic arguments for caving in to the administration. They’ll know that in 2006, Congress passed a tyrannical law that will be ranked with the low points in American democracy, our generation’s version of the Alien and Sedition Acts.”

“Rushing Off a Cliff,” The New York Times, September 28, 2006.

**Please note that the new law leaves “torture” undefined, and is completely silent on whether these torture rules apply to detained U.S. citizens. Moreover, a “terror suspect” has no right to challenge their detention in U.S. courts.