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Habeas Corpus
by adam at 01:36 AM on September 29, 2006
One of the things you learn about in your first year of law school is the concept of "due process": you can't simply be thrown in jail without charge. The government has to charge you with something, and a judge or a grand jury has to agree that there's actually enough admissible evidence to make the charge plausible. The right to due process is guaranteed by the Constitution. There's a reason for this: the framers knew, as we should given the proliferation of autocracies in this world, that one of the bluntest tools of repression is the baseless imprisonment of enemies of the regime.
So now Congress takes for itself the power to say, "no." Congress says, "we will imprison who we want, and you will accept it. We will tell you what they have done, or not, and they will stay in prison for as long as we decide they should, even until they die. We admit no possibility of mistake, we have to prove nothing, and we call this patriotism." And for those senators brave enough to stand up and try to fight this abomination, the Republicans in the Senate promise retribution.
Congress can not take away the right of habeas corpus, because the right doesn't come from Congress. To do this Congress must amend the Constitution, and it doesn't have the will. Unfortunately, the President has replaced two of the justices of the Supreme Court with people also inclined to support government power at any cost, so it is possible that if his justices turn out to be the lackeys he envisioned that this bill will stand. But it won't stand forever. Either the next Congress or Court will realize the depth of this mistake, or something else will happen. Our nation will decline, the beacon of liberty will be extinguished, and in a way this bill will undo its own makers.
How did your Senator vote? Find out here.
comments (4)
As you know I advocate the death penalty for parking violations. But this appalls even me. I wonder about some of these gitmo rats who've been there uncharged and waterboarded for years. What current info could they possibly have that we could beat out of them? And wouldn't they be inclined to lie and lead you on a wild goose chase after an afternoon of intense waterboard action?
by anna at September 29, 2006 7:35 AM
Some of our best INTEL has come from REverse-Torture...
Basically, I was flying over Guantanomo on my way back from the Dominican republic... and I say like a line of 500 towelheads jet skiing and water skiing, and enjoying the wonders of the coral reef with snorkels...
by LOCKHEED at September 29, 2006 2:38 PM
The part I don't get is that there are people down there who've been held for four plus years now. If somone is innocent and let go, after being held for that long and never tried, I would expect them, and justifiably so, to harbor some ill will against the U.S. after they get home. By holding, and then letting go innocent people we are creating terrorists. And what does holding someone for this long get you? If they don't give it up in the first few months, why bother? What information could these people possibly offer now that would have any relevance today? It'd be like having held someone from AL Capone's old gang and expecting them to offer useful information about Columbian Drug Cartels. It all just seems so pointless.
by mg at September 30, 2006 12:09 AM
Those are the interogators, er, translaters you silly goose. The prisoners (not the overly breezy "detainees") are all too busy trying to commit suicide with bed sheets. Like Spinal Tap when told about a jog ahead, they haven't got time for that.
by anna at September 30, 2006 8:38 AM