Kentucky Senator Sides With Bob Marshall on Military Detention Bill

Manassas Park Del. Bob Marshall's bill that seeks an exemption from a provision of the National Defense Authorization Act has the support Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, son of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, according to a Richmond Times-Dispatch report.

House Bill 1160 passed in the Virginia House and the Senate this month, but it remains unclear if Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell will sign it without amendments, even after he received a letter from the younger Paul supporting the bill, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. 

Marshall, who is a candidate for U.S. Senate, said his bill prevents the state's officials from detaining U.S. citizens for an indefinite amount of time without being formerly charged with a crime and without legal council or a court hearing.

The U.S. Constitution provides for the suspension of habeus corpus—the detention of a person without sufficient evidence—if an invasion should occur, but the nation's lawmakers didn't refer to that provision when they passed the National Defense Authorization Act.

Rand Paul wrote to McDonnell, saying he hopes the governor will support him and other,"freedom-loving Americans" by signing the bill into law.

"...The NDAA attempts to repeal fundamental rights guaranteed by our Constitution, and flies in the face of bedrock principles of liberty that pre-date even the Magna Carta," Rand Paul wrote.

Marshall, who also represents parts of Manassas and Prince William County, wrote that he felt McDonnell's office handled HB 1160 in a "backdoor" way as it moved through the House and the Senate, the News & Messenger reported this month.