A new bill by everyone’s favorite Sen. Joe Lieberman and newly elected Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown aims to give the State Department permission to yank the citizenship status of individuals who allegedly ally themselves with terrorists and terrorist groups.

While tough-on-crime folk may see revoking U.S. citizenship as a tool in their holy war against terrorism, civil rights groups are already crying foul. –JCL

The New York Times:

Proposed legislation that would allow the government to revoke American citizenship from people suspected of allying themselves with terrorists set off a legal and political debate Thursday that scrambled some of the usual partisan lines on civil-liberties issues.

The Terrorist Expatriation Act, co-sponsored by Senators Joseph I. Lieberman, independent of Connecticut, and Scott Brown, Republican of Massachusetts, would allow the State Department to revoke the citizenship of people who provide support to terrorist groups like Al Qaeda or who attack the United States or its allies.

Some Democrats expressed openness to the idea, while several Senate Republicans expressed concern. Mr. Brown, who endorsed aggressive tactics against terrorism suspects in his campaign for the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s seat, said the bill was not about politics.

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#citizenship#joe lieberman#patriot act#senate#state department#terrorism