We posted yesterday about a plan from the Department of Justice to ask Congress for the right to detain people without trial over the coronavirus, and many members of Congress had the same reaction ya’ll had when I wrote about it:
Two Words: Hell No. https://t.co/AGlo7cz20i
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) March 22, 2020
Mhmmm. And it’s not just Democrats, Republicans are against it too:
This is a no. We are not allowing this. https://t.co/n5ryRwzQqF
— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) March 22, 2020
OVER MY DEAD BODY https://t.co/B8BRbvRDDa
— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) March 21, 2020
@realDonaldTrump, please refute and disavow this immediately.
— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) March 21, 2020
Yup.
The federal government should NOT use the coronavirus pandemic to arrogate power and abuse the constitutional rights of Americans.
This request by the Department of Justice is an unwarranted move to authoritarianism, which must be fought aggressively. https://t.co/27NTqHfYKP
— Rep Andy Biggs (@RepAndyBiggsAZ) March 22, 2020
More power to the so-called Attorney General?
— Hakeem Jeffries (@RepJeffries) March 22, 2020
This naked power grab shows why Attorney General Barr has no credibility and should resign.
https://t.co/DU4FmKrC3B— Martin Heinrich (@MartinHeinrich) March 22, 2020
Well. I guess that’s it then. However, it may be that the headline we’re being sold isn’t quite representative of what the Department of Justice is actually seeking.
The media has been reporting this as DOJ seeking the power to indefinitely detain suspects. But as I read the story, the actual request is to have the decision to pause cases in the case of an emergency to be made by the chief judge in each district instead of by each judge. pic.twitter.com/viznYxvimX
— Orin Kerr (@OrinKerr) March 22, 2020
I don't have a particular view about whether that decision should be the responsibility of each judge or should be made by the chief judge or by someone else. Maybe DOJ's idea of giving that power to the chief judge is a bad idea.
— Orin Kerr (@OrinKerr) March 22, 2020
But if that's the proposal that lots of folks in my Twitter timeline are saying is the government seeking to indefinitely detain suspects, then someone did an amazing job pitching their particular angle to reporters to get a lot of people extra worried.
— Orin Kerr (@OrinKerr) March 22, 2020
Well then, maybe we don’t have to worry about it at all. I note that in the original report that the DOJ did not want to respond to the story in Politico.