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The Obama administration got a big win on Tuesday night in its ongoing brawl with civil liberties.

Let's be clear: Section 1021 of the National Defense Authorization Act is in the National Defense Authorization Act because the current president wants it in there, and because the current president wants the power to detain indefinitely anyone he and the intelligence community see as a threat, whether that person is an American or not. If that weren't the case, he never would have signed it. If that weren't the case, he wouldn't have sent the Department of Justice into court to fight the lower court's stay of that specific provision of the bill. And I am not as sanguine as the appeals court is that the good will and judiciousness of the executive branch — any executive branch — is enough of a protection against the possibility that this statute can be — and perhaps is being — abused....

The appeals court judges argue against the fears of Hedges and his co-plaintiffs, decision that in its motion the US government "clarifies unequivocally that, 'based on their stated activities,' plaintiffs, 'journalists and activists[,] . . . are in no danger whatsoever of ever being captured and detained by the US military.'"

They also stated "the statute does not affect the existing rights of United States citizens or other individuals arrested in the United States."

Well, all right, then.

The fact is that we don't know how this power is being used right now. The fact is that, if someone were to come forward and anonymously provide proof that this power is being abused, history says that this White House would move heaven and earth to run that whistleblower to ground and toss him in the clink if it so desired. This is a very extensive redefinition of the president's power. Hell, it's a very extensive redefinition of the United States of America, and it is worthy of extensive public discussion. However, I still do not expect any of it to come up in the critically important, game-changing, do-or-die debate in Denver this evening.

Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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