Senate Panel Calls For Restoration Of Habeas Corpus

Fear is no reason to refuse a person his natural right to question his imprisonment.Senate Panel Calls For Restoration Of Habeas CorpusBy Cliff Montgomery – July 17th, 2007The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the Habeas Corpus Restoration Act of 2007 without amendment on June 7th. The bill would “restore habeas corpus for those detained by the United States.”The panel issued a report on the bill on June 26th, stating the committee’s hope that the full Senate pass it. The bill currently is on the Senate’s “Legislative Calendar under General Orders.”The bill’s essential purpose is correct. Fear is no reason to refuse a person his natural right to question his imprisonment.As founding father Benjamin Franklin once stated, “Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.”We quote from the report below:  “This legislation repeals those provisions of the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 (DTA) and the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA) that eliminated the jurisdiction of any court to hear or consider applications for a writ of habeas corpus filed by aliens who have been determined by the United States to be properly detained as enemy combatants.”The writ of habeas corpus protects individuals against unlawful exercises of state power. It provides the means for a person detained by the state to require that the government demonstrate to a neutral judge that there is a factual and legal basis for his or her detention. The writ has roots at least as far back as 16th century England, and beginning with Parliament’s passage of the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679, this protection became known as the ‘Great Writ’.”Habeas corpus has long been a cornerstone of Anglo-Saxon and American legal traditions. At English common law, courts exercised habeas jurisdiction not only within the Crown’s formal territorial limits, but also over other areas over which the Crown exercised sovereign control.”The Great Writ was imported into the laws of all 13 American colonies, and it was one of the first subjects to which the first Congress turned its attention. The Judiciary Act of 1789 specifically empowered federal courts to issue writs of habeas corpus ‘for the purpose of an inquiry into the cause of commitment.'”Habeas corpus is also the only common law writ mentioned in the Constitution. Article I, section 9 provides that the ‘Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of rebellion or invasion the public Safety may require it.'”Thus, the Founders clearly established their intention that habeas corpus serve as a bulwark of individual liberty. Indeed, habeas has only been suspended four times in American history–including twice during the Civil War when the safety of Washington, D.C. was threatened by mobs in Maryland–and the writ has never been suspended absent an active insurrection or invasion.”The right of enemy aliens to petition for habeas relief in U.S. courts is also well-established. While there is no precise historical analogue to the detainees presently held at Guantanamo Bay, United States courts have entertained habeas claims by aliens who were being held as enemy combatants.”For example, in Ex Parte Quirin, 317 U.S. 1 (1942), the Supreme Court allowed a habeas challenge brought by a group of German saboteurs held for law of war offenses to go forward, reasoning that, ‘[i]n view of the public importance of the questions raised by their petitions and of the duty which rests on the courts, in time of war as well as in time of peace, to preserve unimpaired the constitutional safeguards of civil liberty,’ the cases must be allowed to proceed.”The Supreme Court also exercised habeas jurisdiction over an enemy alien in In re: Yamashita, 327 U.S. 1 (1946), in which a Japanese general stood accused of war crimes.”Throughout American history, the writ has served to guarantee people seized and detained by the government the right to question the grounds for their detention, and has been available to citizens, non-citizens, slaves, and alleged enemies.”The writ has served as a critical check on arbitrary and unlawful executive detention as well as, more recently, a legal tool for bringing post-conviction, collateral challenges in criminal cases.”Like what you’re reading so far? Then why not order a full year (52 issues) of thee-newsletter for only $15? A major article covering an story not being told in the Corporate Press will be delivered to your email every Monday morning for a full year, for less than 30 cents an issue. Order Now!