About habeas corpus

There's an article you really need to read over on Common Dreams. It's called "What is Habeas Corpus?" and it explains just how sinister is the assertion (by Gonzales) that the Constitution does not grant the right of habeas corpus. Take a look:

Under Habeas Corpus, you have the right to say, I want to be brought into the court to determine if I am the right person charged, if there’s an actual law prohibiting what I’m charged with, if the people who are holding me have the jurisdiction to do so, and I want that publicly known and I want the right to dispute all of that and the right to be tried too.

Without Habeas Corpus you can be swept up off the street and never heard from again. Period. Nobody has to know. Nobody – including yourself – has to know why. Nobody gets to determine if there is a law against what you’re charged with. You have no rights at all.

In America, the Constitution forbids taking habeas corpus away from you (except “in case of rebellion or invasion the public safety shall require it.”) It was written that way because the right of habeas corpus was a basic right even under the King of England. It was the most basic check on a king’s tyranny. It was assumed.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales now asserts something he thinks is very tricky and clever. What if you never had such a right? Then not giving you the right of Habeas Corpus would not be taking it away. That would allow his president to order someone snatched up off the street, or from their homes, and then anything could be done to them. Prison for life. Tortured. Killed. Sent to another country. And nobody would even have the right to ask if our government imprisoned that person. Or why. Or if it was the right person.

Can you imagine what it would be like to be arrested and not be told why and not have access to a lawyer and not be able to let your family know? That you have no such rights is now what the Bush administration is asserting.