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@ISIDEWITHQuestionsForeign policyStarted 14yrs agoActive 11hrs ago

Should foreign terrorism suspects be given constitutional rights?

In 2002, the George W. Bush administration issued the Torture Memos which argued for a narrow definition of torture under U.S. law. They included granting the CIA authority to use “enhanced interrogation techniques” on enemy combatants. The techniques included waterboarding subjection to extreme cold and confinement in small boxes.

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Answer Overview

Response rates from 9.2m America voters.

25%
Yes
75%
No
17%
Yes
59%
No
5%
Yes, just like U.S. citizens, terrorists should be given a fair trial in federal courts
9%
No, they should be tried in military tribunals but not subject to torture
3%
Yes, give them a fair trial and shut down Guantanamo Bay
7%
No, they are not U.S. citizens and do not have constitutional rights

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Other Popular Answers

Unique answers from America voters whose views went beyond the provided options.

 @8LX7Q6W from Ohio  answered…6yrs6Y

Yes but only after they have been closely looked after for a period of time.

 @8XLR4JX  from North Carolina  answered…3yrs3Y

Not constitutional rights since they aren’t citizens, but basic human rights and international law still apply

 @ariff from Arkansas  answered…6yrs6Y

No, they are not US citizens but basic human rights still apply, and only if they are captured in an area under the jurisdiction of U.S. law.

 @52L8D8Zfrom Texas  answered…6yrs6Y

We wouldn't have to answer this question if we weren't legitimizing terror through unfair wars that create people accustomed to suffering and warfare as a norm, and who are living lives filled with terror because of us. This is not the way of Americans and it must stop.

 @9FDLK78 from California  answered…3yrs3Y

Terrorism is horrible and the people committing these acts do not deserve to be treated nicely but torture should not be used unless they tortured others.

 @4RVSBFDfrom District of Columbia  answered…6yrs6Y

USA is a major sponsor of terrorism. We should quit meddling in other nations.

 @4SQWJ65from Florida  answered…6yrs6Y

Is this seriously in consideration? They honestly shouldn't even be considered people. Of course they're not getting constitutional rights.

 @4RV9YSTfrom Florida  answered…6yrs6Y

If they are foreign nationals and trial is brought in the United States or a US territory, then they should be given the same rights to a fair trial, innocent until proven guilty. They should not be considered as US citizens, though. They are foreign nationals and should be privy to the laws that govern foreign nationals within the US and our territories.

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 @ISIDEWITH submitted…1yr1Y

Biden bans new offshore oil drilling along most of US coastline

President Joe Biden announced a ban on new offshore oil and gas drilling along most of the US coastline on Monday in a move designed to bolster his environmental and climate legacy as he prepares to leave office.The order will protect 625mn acres of ocean on the US east coast, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific coasts of Washington, Oregon and California, as well as portions of the Northern Bering Sea in Alaska, the White House said on Monday.“My decision reflects what the coastal communities, business and beachgoers have known for a long time: that drilling off these coasts could cause irreversible damage to places we hold dear and is unnecessary to meet our nation’s energy needs,” Biden said.The executive action will not prevent oil and gas companies obtaining leases in the central and western parts of the Gulf of Mexico, areas that produce almost 15 per cent of the nation’s oil supplies. Nevertheless, the move is expected to complicate the policy agenda of incoming president Donald Trump, who has vowed to “drill, baby, drill” and boost US oil production, even though it is already at a record level.The Trump transition team said it was a disgraceful decision designed to exact “political revenge on the American people” and the incoming president said he would immediately “unban” Biden’s prohibition on new offshore drilling.“I have the right to unban it immediately . . . we can’t let that happen to our country. It’s our greatest, it’s really our greatest economic asset,” Trump told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt in an interview on Monday.Biden’s action will probably be challenged by the oil industry in court and face pushback from Republicans in Congress. But overturning the order could prove challenging and may require an act of Congress, according to legal experts.Biden is using his authority under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, to protect the areas from drilling — the same mechanism which former president Barack Obama used previously to ban offshore drilling in some Arctic and Atlantic waters in 2016.In 2019, a federal judge ruled that an executive order by former president Donald Trump that lifted an Obama-era ban on oil and gas drilling in the Arctic Ocean was unlawful.

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