Tournament: UMKC | Round: 1 | Opponent: North Texas | Judge:
Contention One – Inherency – 

A private sector task force has investigated and reported on the likelihood of detainee abuse but has no ability to enforce accountability now – creation of an official investigatory commission is key to sending a clear message against torture.
Human Rights Watch 13 (“US: Bipartisan Study Shows Need to Investigate Torture”, 4/16, http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/04/16/us-bipartisan-study-shows-need-investigate-torture)
A bipartisan study…their political leanings.”

Unfortunately, Congress refuses to establish an official investigatory commission to identify and hold accountable those who participated in torture.
Tolbert 13 (David, President of the International Center for Transitional Justice, “United States Must Ensure Accountability for ‘War on Terror’ Abuses”, 4/29, http://ictj.org/news/united-states-must-ensure-accountability-E2809Cwar-terrorE2809D-abuses)
The Constitution Project’s…redress to victims.

Contention Two – Torture – 

Both indefinite detention and detainee abuse continue despite the Obama administration’s slight deviation from Bush-era war on terror practices.
Glaser 13 (John, Editor at Antiwar.com, Published at the American Conservative Magazine, The Daily Caller and Truthout, “Obama Indefinitely Detains, Not Just at Gitmo”, 8/5, http://antiwar.com/blog/2013/08/05/obama-indefinitely-detains-not-just-at-gitmo/)
The debate about…The Second Guantanamo.

Torture dehumanizes victim and torturer alike – its robs humanity of dignity and conditions us to accept violence.  Only finding ways to publically expose and repair the social harms created by torture can break the cycle of vengeance that threatens to collapse the social order.
Chanbonpin 11 (Kim, Assistant Professor of Law at John Marshall Law School, “"We Don't Want Dollars, Just Change": Narrative Counter-Terrorism Strategy, an Inclusive Model for Social Healing, and the Truth About Torture Commission”, 6 Nw. J. L. and Soc. Pol'y 1, Winter, L/N)
Torture by government…repair social harms.

Dehumanization outweighs all other impacts.
Berube 97 (David, Professor of English at University of South Carolina, “Nanotechnological Prolongevity: The Down Side”, http://www.cas.sc.edu/engl/faculty/berube/prolong.htm)
Assuming we are…most powerful weapon.
Focus on utilitarian logistics and political expediency justifies torture as normal politics – turning torture into a mundane question of national security guarantees sweeps the issue under the rug and allows it to continue.
Heine 9 (John, Chair in Global Governance at the Balsillie School of International Affairs (Canada) and Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, “Confronting an Evil Past”, Frontline, 26(19), http://www.frontline.in/static/html/fl2619/stories/20090925261905700.htm)
As mentioned above…of doing politics.

Creating an investigatory commission with the power to subpoena and examine executive agencies serves as a warning against future abuses of power.  This establishes public responsibility for official injustices and serves as the basis for corrective action.
BCJ 8 (Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, “Investigating Violations of the Rule of Law in Counter-Terrorism Policy”, 12/29, http://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/investigating-violations-rule-law-counter-terrorism-policy)
The Brennan Center…and our values.

Establishing an investigatory commission challenges the legitimacy of the President’s war powers authority and forces Congress into confrontation for its irresponsibility as an effective check on executive power.  The plan brings institutions and individuals to account for their role in the dispassionate application of sovereign violence, exposing the inadequacy of traditional political and legal action and opening up space for a broader criticism of war and politics.
Simon 5 (Jonathan, Associate Dean, Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program, and Professor of Law at University of California at Berkeley, “Parrhesiastic Accountability: Investigatory Commissions and Executive Power in an Age of Terror”, 114 Yale L.J. 1419, April, L/N)
John Hart Ely's…over those matters.

Contention Three – Secrecy – 

New revelations of extraordinary rendition expose the lack of transparency associated with detention practices.  Establishing a comprehensive investigation is key to eliminate the shroud of secrecy used to deny responsibility for torture.
Frankel 13 (Allison, ACLU Human Rights Program, “New Information About CIA Extraordinary Rendition Program Highlights Need For Transparency, Accountability”, 7/31, http://www.aclu.org/blog/human-rights-national-security/new-information-about-cia-extraordinary-rendition-program)
We may be…brought to light.
External checks on secrecy in the area of detention are key – otherwise the President will create other legal authority to justify non-disclosure of key information properly in Congress’ possession.
Berman 10 (Emily, Counsel in the Liberty and National Security Project at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU, “Executive Privilege Disputes between Congress and the President: A Legislative Proposal,” 3 Alb. Gov't L. Rev. 741, L/N)
It is apparent…and more transparent.

Upholding the presidential power to engage in excessive secrecyrisks nuclear miscalculation and failure of our defense doctrine – the impact is extinction.
Podesta 6 (John, Chair of the Center for American Progress and the Center for American Progress Action Fund, served as White House chief of staff to President William J. Clinton, served in the president’s cabinet and as a principal on the National Security Council, co-chair of President Barack Obama’s transition, visiting professor of law at Georgetown University, “The Hidden Threat: Combating Government Secrecy in the 21st Century”, Remarks to colloquium on Imagining a New Constitution at Amherst College, 9/15, http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/open-government/news/2006/09/15/2182/the-hidden-threat-combating-government-secrecy-in-the-21st-century/)
Openness in government…our nuclear doctrine.

No risk of offense – excessive secrecy breeds anti-Americanism, public distrust of government and flawed policymaking.
Parry 13 (Robert, Investigative reporter who broke the Iran-Contra stories for The Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s, “How Excessive Secrecy Corrodes Democracy”, Consortium News, 2/6, http://consortiumnews.com/2013/02/06/how-secrecy-corrodes-democracy/)
The United States…is truly necessary.

Investigatory commissions overcome the Congressional proclivity to give in to Presidential war powers, allowing the effective exercise of accountability and oversight.  Congressional involvement is key to combating the executive’s tendency towards secrecy and allows the independent exercise of fact-finding that contains the impulse towards misinformed or miscalculated war.
Simon 5 (Jonathan, Associate Dean, Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program, and Professor of Law at University of California at Berkeley, “Parrhesiastic Accountability: Investigatory Commissions and Executive Power in an Age of Terror”, 114 Yale L.J. 1419, April, L/N)
In theUnited…of investigatory commissions.

Put away the Politics DA – the plan is non-partisan and any risk of a link is both inevitable due to other partial investigations and outweighed by the impact to the affirmative.  Only a comprehensive and independent commission can hold Congress and the executive branch accountable for lax oversight and excessive secrecy.
Schwarz 9 (Frederick, Chief Counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School, “Investigating Bush: the political consequences”, LA Times, 3/13, http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-oew-schwarz-rabkin13-2009mar13,0,7514892.story)
The independent commission…and resource constraints. 

PLAN – The United States Congress should substantially increase statutory and judicial restrictions on the war powers authority of the President of the United States by establishing an investigatory commission on indefinite detention vested with the authority to subpoena executive branch officials and access to classified information.

The plan mandates executive reporting and access to classified information through Congress – that imposes a statutory restriction on Presidential authority.
Berman 10 (Emily, Counsel in the Liberty and National Security Project at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU, “Executive Privilege Disputes between Congress and the President: A Legislative Proposal,” 3 Alb. Gov't L. Rev. 741, L/N)
As an initial…denied such information.

Reasonability is key to evaluating the term ‘restriction’ in the context of detention – all definitions of ‘restriction’ are highly contextual and depend on the specific powers in question.
Hains 11 (William, JD, J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University, “Challenging the Executive: The Constitutionality of Congressional Regulation of the President's Wartime Detention Policies”, 2011 B.Y.U.L. Rev. 2283, L/N)
The war on…countries are constitutional.

?