Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed the Department of Justice for urging Congress to allow it to ask chief judges to detain people indefinitely without trial during emergencies.
“There’s a long history in this country and in other countries of using emergencies as times to really start to encroach upon people’s civil rights. And in fact, this is a time when we need them the absolute most,” the New York Democrat told CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday.
“It does not matter how urgent times are. We have to make sure that we retain our civil rights. And there’s no reason for us to be waiving folks’ civil rights in an emergency,” she said, adding that she thinks the DOJ’s move is “abhorrent.”
Draft legislative text reviewed by Politico would allow the Justice Department to pause the statute of limitations in both civil and criminal cases and extend them “for one year following the end of the national emergency.” President Trump declared a national emergency earlier this month in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Attorney General William Barr would also have the authority to ask district court chief judges to pause these proceedings “whenever the district court is fully or partially closed by virtue of any natural disaster, civil disobedience, or other emergency situation.” Currently, judges can pause such proceedings in emergency situations in their own jurisdictions, but the draft language would make the emergency process more consistent.
