So. The wonderful Congressman from Connecticut, Joe Lieberman, has introduced the "Terrorism Expatriation Act". This act modifies another passed years ago while McCarthyism was still alive and well.
The text of the original is:
§ 1481. Loss of nationality by native-born or naturalized citizen; voluntary action; burden of proof; presumptions
(a) A person who is a national of the United States whether by birth or naturalization, shall lose his nationality by voluntarily performing any of the following acts with the intention of relinquishing United States nationality—
(1) obtaining naturalization in a foreign state upon his own application or upon an application filed by a duly authorized agent, after having attained the age of eighteen years; or
(2) taking an oath or making an affirmation or other formal declaration of allegiance to a foreign state or a political subdivision thereof, after having attained the age of eighteen years; or
(3) entering, or serving in, the armed forces of a foreign state if
(A) such armed forces are engaged in hostilities against the United States, or
(B) such persons serve as a commissioned or non-commissioned officer; or
(4)
(A) accepting, serving in, or performing the duties of any office, post, or employment under the government of a foreign state or a political subdivision thereof, after attaining the age of eighteen years if he has or acquires the nationality of such foreign state; or
(B) accepting, serving in, or performing the duties of any office, post, or employment under the government of a foreign state or a political subdivision thereof, after attaining the age of eighteen years for which office, post, or employment an oath, affirmation, or declaration of allegiance is required; or
(5) making a formal renunciation of nationality before a diplomatic or consular officer of the United States in a foreign state, in such form as may be prescribed by the Secretary of State; or
(6) making in the United States a formal written renunciation of nationality in such form as may be prescribed by, and before such officer as may be designated by, the Attorney General, whenever the United States shall be in a state of war and the Attorney General shall approve such renunciation as not contrary to the interests of national defense; or
(7) committing any act of treason against, or attempting by force to overthrow, or bearing arms against, the United States, violating or conspiring to violate any of the provisions of section 2383 of title 18, or willfully performing any act in violation of section 2385 of title 18, or violating section 2384 of title 18 by engaging in a conspiracy to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, if and when he is convicted thereof by a court martial or by a court of competent jurisdiction.
(b) Whenever the loss of United States nationality is put in issue in any action or proceeding commenced on or after September 26, 1961 under, or by virtue of, the provisions of this chapter or any other Act, the burden shall be upon the person or party claiming that such loss occurred, to establish such claim by a preponderance of the evidence. Any person who commits or performs, or who has committed or performed, any act of expatriation under the provisions of this chapter or any other Act shall be presumed to have done so voluntarily, but such presumption may be rebutted upon a showing, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the act or acts committed or performed were not done voluntarily.
Okay. So I can see the expatriation of those described in section 1-6. Those have renounced their citizenship by swearing allegiance to another state. But section 7 I have a problem with. Those sections of the US code that it modifies give stipulations on how long someone can be incarcerated and say nothing of expatriating them.
Now Lieberman's proposal would expand that to include terrorists, domestic ones. The biggest problem with that is that if we expatriate citizens what becomes of them once they are released from jail? If they have no citizenship here or in another country what are they to do? Can they be re-naturalized? Will they be deported? and if so to where?
I see this as an open door to stifle dissent and to criminalize and strip of their rights American citizens at the whim of the state. The burden of proving, or rather disproving, the state's accusations lies with the one accused. That is not right! In this country we are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, not the other way around!
This quote sums up my fears on that point, "While the burden would be on the State Department and you would have access to court review, the agency process could make it difficult to contest such findings -- particularly with the use of secret evidence (and barring the use of evidence by the defendant on national security grounds)," [Jonathan] Turley wrote on his blog."
Of course I saw this one coming. All the debate about whether or not to 'mirandize' those suspected of terrorism and whether non-citizens deserve those rights. I believe we must extend the rights of our legal system to include those that are terror suspects. We must prove that they are what the authorities say they are before we incarcerate them. If they are not part of an organized military, that belonging to a sovereign state, then we must treat them as individuals guilty of a crime. As individuals they must be proven guilty, not proven innocent. We cannot abandon justice to procure some illusion of safety.
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