The following is a sample letter text that you can use to send along with NDAA Nullification legislation (HERE) to state and local legislators in your area.

Dear ______,

Please accept this constituent-petition containing draft legislation to nullify the unconstitutional 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (“2012 NDAA”). As a local leader, it is up to you to defend our liberties from unconstitutional and anti-liberty acts by the Federal Government. I implore you to introduce and pass this most necessary legislation.

Section 1021 of the 2012 NDAA purports to authorize the President to designate as an enemy combatant any U.S. citizen or legal resident alien found within the United States that the President suspects “was a part of or substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners.”  Those covered by section 1021 are unclear and it is subject to abuse because it is not limited to individuals directly responsible for terrorism or belligerent acts; it applies to vague ‘substantial support’ for undefined ‘associated forces.’

The NDAA does not even provide the citizen or legal resident alien a forum to contest the President’s determination of enemy combatant status. Section 1021 then purports to authorize the President to utilize the military to detain and dispose of those U.S. citizens and legal resident aliens according to the Law of War, including: (1) indefinite detention without charge or trial until the end of hostilities, (2) prosecution through a Military Commission, or (3) transfer to a foreign country or foreign entity.   Indefinite military detention without charge or trial, military tribunals, and the transfer to a foreign jurisdiction of U.S. citizens and legal resident aliens subverts civil authority to the military and defies our most fundamental liberties and Due Process forged in the Rhode Island Constitution and the following sections of the United States Constitution;

  • Article I Section 9, Clause 2’s right to seek Writ of Habeas Corpus;
  • The First Amendment’s right to petition the Government for a redress of grievances;
  • The Fourth Amendment’s right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures;
  • The Fifth Amendment’s right to be free from charge for an infamous or capitol crime until presentment or indictment by a Grand Jury and the right to be from deprivation of life, liberty, or property, without Due Process of law;
  • The Sixth Amendment’s right in criminal prosecutions to enjoy a speedy trial by an impartial jury in the State and District where the crime shall have been committed, the right to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation, the right to confront witnesses, and the right to Counsel;
  • The Eighth Amendment’s right to be free from excessive bail, fines, and cruel and unusual punishment; and
  • The Fourteenth Amendment’s right to be free from deprivation of life, liberty, or property, without Due Process of law.

 

            While terrorism is real, winning the war against terror cannot come at the great expense of mitigating fundamental Constitutional rights. Undermining our Constitution serves only to concede to the terrorists’ desire to change the fabric of what made the United States a country of freedom, liberty and opportunity.

You have taken an oath — as have politicians, active and retired military, police, fire men and women, attorneys, and numerous other citizens and immigrants alike — to uphold the Constitutions of (YOUR STATE) and the United States. Moreover, it is incumbent upon all persons who believe in the rule of law and our Constitutional ideals to oppose any law or act that purports to deny our fundamental liberties and Due Process.  That we have a Congress and President professing the authority to legislatively usurp our intrinsic rights enshrined in the Constitution demands an immediate response from all Americans, especially our local and state leaders.

To this end, please consider introducing and adopting, at your most early convenience, the attached framework resolution and (ACT or ORDINANCE) that: (1) condemns Section 1021 of the 2012 NDAA; (2) prohibits all local officials from assisting in a military investigation or detainment of a U.S. Citizen or legal resident alien; and 3) attempts to outlaw such military investigations and detainments.

Please stand up for our liberties against this terrible Federal evisceration of our most cherished and fundamental rights by adopting this legislation. You will have the community’s support fully behind you.

 

Thank you,

_____________

Blake Filippi

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