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civil liberties -- senate terror bill
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Date: Fri, 2 Jun 1995 12:54:29 -0700
From: Kit Gage
ALERT! from JUNE 2, 1995
KIT GAGE
NCARL WASHINGTON OFFICE
LAST CHANCE TO STOP SENATE TERROR BILL
IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS THE SENATE WILL VOTE ON THE TERRORISM BILL,
A BILL THAT ISN'T NEEDED, THAT CRIMINALIZES LEGAL ACTIVITY, AND
THAT IS WAY TOO BROAD. IT WOULD DENY DUE PROCESS IN DEPORTING
PERMANENT RESIDENT NON-CITIZENS AND CRIMINALIZES INTERNATIONAL
SOLIDARITY AND INTERNATIONAL RELIEF EFFORTS IN AREAS OF CONFLICT.
IF YOU HAVE NOT YET SPOKEN WITH YOUR SENATOR, THIS IS THE TIME TO
DO IT. THE HOUSE PLANS TO TAKE UP THE BILL THE END OF JUNE, WITH
JUDICIARY COMMITTEE HEARINGS SCHEDULED JUNE 12.
The U.S. Senate began debate on S. 735, the Republican
"Comprehensive Terrorism Prevention Act of 1995," the so-called
Hatch substitute, on Friday May 26. After return from Memorial
Day recess, they are expected to take it up again and most
probably will pass it next week. In the process, they will vote
on roughly 60 amendments to the bill.
When they began debate, Senators noted that they had just
received the 150 page bill the day before, and so probably nearly
all had not read it. You should help them understand the bill
and its implications limiting political activity and humanitarian
aid. This is the newest Republican version of S. 390, the
Administration's "Omnibus Counterterrorism Bill" that was
introduced in February.
Following the Oklahoma tragedy, and hearings in April and
May, both Republicans and Democrats introduced bills modified in
part to address domestic terrorism. The House bills now are H.R.
1710, the Republican "Comprehensive Antiterrorism Act of 1995"
and H.R. 1635, the Democratic domestic terrorism addition to H.R.
896, called "Antiterrorism Amendments Act of 1995."
The Republican Senate bill, S. 735 is marginally better in
some civil liberties aspects than the original Administration
bill. Yet it retains the worst provisions of the initial bill.
It would:- criminalize humanitarian aid to clinics, orphanages and other
legal assistance in areas of conflict where they are remotely
tied to groups the U.S. President designates as "terrorist".- define the terms "terrorist" and "terrorist organization" so
broadly that they could not possibly be applied everywhere they
fit, and so inevitably would be used in political ways.- renew the McCarran-Walter Act, to exclude people from visiting
the U.S. because of their politics.- deport permanent resident aliens using secret evidence and
reverse the burden of proof so the person has to prove why they
shouldn't be held in pretrial detention.
The Republican bill also would:- make habeas corpus changes to severely limit prisoner appeals
in state cases, without providing funds for competent attorneys
to do either the initial cases or the appeals.
The Democrats began the debate Friday with an amendment from
Senator Lieberman (D-CT) which would have expanded emergency
wiretaps without a court order to include broad categories of
domestic and international terrorism as reasons to use the taps.
It was Senators Hatch and Dole, Republicans, who successfully
urged the measure to be tabled on largely civil liberties
grounds.
Without significant citizen outcry, this may be the tone of
the debate: proposed measures that sound tough but which
threaten the political activity and free flow of ideas and
information which in truth keep us safe.
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