Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Playing Devil's Advocate: Does the Constitution Apply to Foreign Terrorists?

Patrick Ruffini has created a Facebook group called Libertarians for National Security. He describes the group as

for libertarians who believe that American ideals of freedom must be defended vigorously around the world... for small-l and large-L libertarians who understand that blaming America first has no place in our foreign policy... for libertarians who can agree to disagree about the war that deposed the totalitarian dictator Saddam Hussein... and those who understand that the Constitution does not apply to foreign terrorists who want to take our freedoms away. Our motto is simple: Freedom at home. Vigilance abroad... because eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.


I know my more hawkish friends will recoil from my hesitancy, but I'm unsure what Patrick means when he writes that "the Constitution does not apply to foreign terrorists who want to take our freedoms away." Human beings have rights by virtue of their being human, regardless of whether a written document protects those rights and regardless of whether those people live in America or Antarctica. You can assuredly forfeit your rights—as those who engage in terrorism do—but only after proven guilty, by way of habeas corpus and due process.

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