Paul Zarembka wrote:
I thought you might be interested in joining CCR in fighting to save
Habeas Corpus, now under major threat. Thanks, Paul
Take action now at
http://www.democracyinaction.org/ccr/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=5215&t=
<http://www.democracyinaction.org/ccr/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=5215&t=>
From Jurist, a little constitutional background (enjoy it while we
still *have* a constitution):
History Starts Today: The Perils of Habeas-Stripping
JURIST Guest Columnist Alison Nathan of Fordham University School of
Law says that the provision in the military commissions bill stripping
the federal courts of habeas jurisdiction over detainees threatens a
fundamental element of our constitutional heritage ...
.
Pursuant to the habeas-stripping provision, any non-U.S. citizen who
has been or will be swept up by the military, the CIA, or our allies
and transferred to a secret black-site or Guantanamo Bay, or rendered
to another country where they are held and interrogated at the behest
of the U.S. government, may no longer have any recourse to a U.S.
court. As a result, the administration will have no obligation to put
forward to an independent branch of government even a minimal
explanation of the basis for a potentially indefinite detention. Nor
will there exist any mechanism to check military or CIA abuses,
including torture, of detainees. Whatever rights to humane treatment
under the Geneva Conventions that remain following the “compromise”
between the White House and the Republican Senators (and there is
serious question as to whether this was indeed a compromise or a
capitulation to the White House) will be meaningless since the
habeas-stripping provision unquestionably ensures that those rights
will find no day in court and no remedy.
This change works a significant destruction of our constitutional
heritage for at least two reasons. First, the U.S. Constitution
establishes as a fundamental structural premise that there will be
three independent branches of government that serve as checks and
balances upon each other. Removing entirely the independent judiciary
from any role in checking the conduct of the Executive and Congress is
a substantial alteration to that structural premise. Second, the writ
of habeas corpus has, since this country’s founding, served as a
particularly important guardian of liberty. Throughout our history,
when the government has captured and detained individuals, the “Great
Writ” has served the basic function of guarding against arbitrary
government in the form of unjustified and secret detention. Here is
how Alexander Hamilton in /Federalist No. 84/ (quoting Blackstone)
powerfully described the critical importance of the writ of habeas
corpus:
To bereave a man of life …without accusation or trial, would be so
gross and notorious an act of despotism,
.
More:
http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/forumy/2006/09/history-starts-today-perils-of-habeas.php
