Bush to criminalize protesters under Patriot Act as Disrupto

I don’t know if every president since Roosevelt (T. or F.D.?) has done so, but certainly Lincoln was quite dictatorial in the spring of 1861. His unconstitutional suspension of the writ of habeas corpus in September 1862 didn’t ameliorate the situation. (“Honest Abe” was also the original claimant of having “a right to take any measure which may best subdue the enemy”, be it constitutional or no, through being commander-in-chief during wartime.) <blockquote>… I can only say that if the authority which the constitution has confided to the judiciary department and judicial officers, may thus, upon any pretext or under any circumstances, be usurped by the military power, at its discretion, the people of the United States are no longer living under a government of laws, but every citizen holds life, liberty and property at the will and pleasure of the army officer in whose military district he may happen to be found. — Chief Justice Taney’s Ex parte Merryman opinion</blockquote>--- Shatter your ideals upon the rock of Truth. 
 
— The Divine Symphony, by Inayat Khan