Habeas Corpus is the oldest and most fundamental of our civil liberties. Dating from the Magna Carta in the Anglo-American tradition, it is enshrined in our Constitution.
The principle denies government authorities the right to arbitrarily detain citizens. Most of our criminal jurisprudence flows from this ensconcing of habeas corpus. There is nothing more hallowed in word and deed.
Yet the Congress has passed, and President Obama -- the constitutional law professor -- has signed into law legislation that directly contravenes that principle.
Yet the Congress has passed, and President Obama -- the constitutional law professor -- has signed into law legislation that directly contravenes that principle.
The Act requires the Executive to apprehend, imprison and detain indefinitely any person who it judges to be a threat to the safety and security of other Americans, i.e. a potential terrorist.
These actions involve no due process whatsoever, are to be kept secret, and even the victim's family members kept in the dark.
In short, persons are to be "disappeared" as in Argentina under the military Junta, as in the old Soviet Union, as In North Korea today.
An ignorant Congress, an ignorant MSM and an ignorant public thus shred our most basic civil liberty without public debate.
An ignorant Congress, an ignorant MSM and an ignorant public thus shred our most basic civil liberty without public debate.
Although there is no guarantee that fuller awareness of what habeas corpus is and has meant would have prevented Congress and Obama from this blatantly unconstitutional act, such knowledge might have agitated the public and given our rulers pause.
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