老澳门开奖结果

Update (12/22/17): In its latest filing with the court, the government won鈥檛 say whether it is considering requiring the detainee to relinquish his American citizenship in exchange for his release from U.S. detention. The filing also states that the government does not believe it is legally required to allow him to consult an attorney before renouncing his citizenship.

The Supreme Court has long held that American citizenship be voluntarily relinquished and the government can鈥檛 just take it away. But in a chilling new development, the Trump administration may be trying to coerce an American who has been secretly imprisoned without a lawyer to 鈥渧oluntarily鈥� give up his citizenship.

For more than three months, the Trump administration has held the American citizen in a secret jail in Iraq, refusing even to release his name and depriving him of his liberty without charges or any opportunity to contest the government's allegations before a judge. After a hearing last month in the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 motion for access to the detainee, the government admitted that it is also ignoring his request for a lawyer, in a brazen violation of his constitutional rights. 鈥淭hat kind of unchecked power is, quite frankly, frightening,鈥� Judge Tanya S. Chutkan noted in response to the government鈥檚 insistence that it can continue to hold him without allowing him to consult an attorney.

Now, according to a , the government may be trying to deprive the prisoner of his citizenship as well. The report states that the Trump administration originally wanted to prosecute the man 鈥� but it has no evidence that would hold up in court. So, according to the Times, the government might offer the prisoner a bargain: If he 鈥渧oluntarily鈥� gives up his U.S. citizenship, the government could let him out of military detention and transfer him to Saudi Arabia, where he is reportedly a dual citizen.

The government must immediately allow the 老澳门开奖结果 or another lawyer access to the man. In response to the Times report, the 老澳门开奖结果 promptly filed a notification of these developments with the court, and Judge Chutkan has demanded the government respond by noon today.

If the Trump administration is indeed trying to coerce an American into giving up his citizenship, this would be a blatant effort to evade decades of Supreme Court law. In 1967, the Supreme Court stated unequivocally: 鈥淚n our country the people are sovereign and the Government cannot sever its relationship to the people by taking away their citizenship.鈥� The government should not be allowed to accomplish this forbidden objective by locking up citizens in secret and making them an offer they can鈥檛 refuse.

In the only other case involving a Saudi-American dual national held by the U.S., the man, Yaser Hamdi, was able to consult with lawyers before deciding whether to renounce his citizenship or challenge his detention in the courts (which the Supreme Court in 2004 he had the right to do). Thirteen years after Hamdi had the benefit of counsel and the judicial system before deciding whether to renounce his citizenship, the Trump administration鈥檚 ongoing efforts to hide an American citizen from lawyers and the courts are simply unprecedented.

The government鈥檚 actions here should scare all of us. As Judge Chutkan observed at the hearing last month, the Trump administration鈥檚 position is that 鈥渢he government could snatch any U.S. citizen off the street and hold them as an enemy combatant鈥� for as long as it took to come to some 鈥榝inal disposition.鈥欌�� If the Times report is accurate, the government is considering an illegal solution to a blatantly unconstitutional situation of its own making. There can be nothing voluntary about a detainee, held secretly without access to counsel, renouncing his citizenship in exchange for his liberty.