Order nixing habeas rights goes into effect.
Order nixing habeas rights goes into effect.
“The D.C. Circuit Court on Wednesday, after pondering the issue for more than two months, on Wednesday refused to delay any longer putting into effect its decision that Guantanamo Bay detainees have lost all rights to pursue habeas challenges to their prolonged imprisonment. In a brief order, the panel that ruled against the detainees on Feb. 20 formally denied a request filed in April by detainees’ lawyers not to issue the mandate and to hold the cases on its docket for several more months.”
[T]he Justice Department appears likely to act quickly to get 12 District Court judges in Washington to dismiss habeas challenges by scores of detainees, and also to wipe out so-called “protective orders” that assure the detainees’ lawyers access to their clients at Guantanamo and access to information the military may use to justify continuing to hold them.
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Go Team Terror!!!
June 20th, 2007 at 8:10 pmit’s a day for grieving the loss of our constitutional foundations and the establishment of an authoritarian state..
http://takeitpersonally.blogspot.com/
June 20th, 2007 at 8:12 pmThe Bush Crime Syndicate is more dangerous to our nation and the world than Al Qaeda, Iran, Iraq, and North Korea combined.
t-mac
June 20th, 2007 at 8:18 pmThuis sucks.
June 20th, 2007 at 8:19 pmthis means the Islamic controlled regime of Bush will declare me an enemy combantant!
In “A Tale of Two Cities”, Charles Dickens evoked the terrible abuse of justice that led to the French Revolution by writing of “a privilege that I in my own time have known the boldest people afraid to speak of in a whisper …the privilege of filling up blank forms for the consignment of anyone to the oblivion of a prison for any length of time …” It is astonishing and tragic that, in our craven state of fear, we have devolved to a point where we are willing to allow such abuses in exchange for a false promise of physical security. What a betrayal of the millions who fought and died through past centuries to preserve the principles of our democracy!
June 20th, 2007 at 8:19 pmt-mac,
June 20th, 2007 at 8:19 pmBush is controlled by Al-Qaeda.
psstt, one of the Red Queen’s cards has gotten out of the deck again! Be very quiet and don’t talk to it. It might go back inside its box.
June 20th, 2007 at 8:21 pmComment by The Joker
Wait until some democratic president exercises Bush’s “decider” powers, and decides The Joker should be introduced to The Poker. Then he’ll sing a different ditty, guaranteed…
June 20th, 2007 at 8:24 pmWe must as Americans rice up against our Sunni regime and their Shia accomplises in Congress.
June 20th, 2007 at 8:25 pmThis has to stop!
Welcome to the American Gulag. Who will be America’s Alexandr Solzhenitsyn? Will America ban the books that expose the Gulag and chase the authors into hiding somewhere in Vermont?
And, I’m sorry, how does an inalienable right become extinguished? Why has no one ever used the Ninth Amendment before the SCOTUS?
June 20th, 2007 at 8:25 pmThe United States is not a banana republic now, how precisely?
June 20th, 2007 at 8:29 pmI weep for my Country. God help us!
June 20th, 2007 at 8:30 pmUS, Israel finalize Iran strike plan:
Press Esc | June 20, 2007
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert visited Washington yesterday and met with US President George W. Bush to finalise plans for a joint US-Israel strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
President Bush hinted that actions against Iran will form the core of their discussion.
“I’m sure that we will find some time, also, to discuss other measures, such as the danger of Iran and the threats that come from the President of Iran, who talks time and again about the liquidation of the state of Israel, something that is totally intolerable and unacceptable,” he said. “And we have to continue the measures taken in order to stop the Iranian efforts to establish unconventional weapons.”
Talking to reporters at a joint press conference Bush once again re-iterated his position on military strikes against Iran by saying “I will tell you this, that my position hasn’t changed, and that is all options are on the table.”
“And I fully understand the concerns of any Israeli when they hear the voice of the man in Iran saying, on the one hand, we want to acquire the technologies and know-how to build a — enrich uranium, which could then be converted into a nuclear weapon, and on the other hand, we want to destroy Israel,” he added. “Look, if I were an Israeli citizen I would view that as a serious threat to my security. And as a strong ally of Israel, I view that as a serious threat to its security — not only the security of Israel, but the security of the Middle East.”
Olmert also met with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to obtain their broad support for military action against Iran.
Pelosi’s comments welcoming the Prime Minister indicate that he is likely to get the backing he is seeking from the Congress.
“With the Republican and Democratic leaders gathered here, you see how strong the bipartisanship is for a great U.S.-Israel relationship,” Pelosi said.
June 20th, 2007 at 8:31 pm“We must as Americans rice up against our Sunni regime and their Shia accomplises”
I enjoyed the Minute Man / Minute Rice allusion. Do we just add water ?
June 20th, 2007 at 8:32 pmAs did the Reichstag in 1933, what a coincidence.
June 20th, 2007 at 8:34 pmThe Joker,
Some clown named BARTLEBEE on the thread below is talking shit about you.
Something about, his Muslim masters told him to bring down the US…
June 20th, 2007 at 8:35 pmYikes the big bad terrorists have won!
June 20th, 2007 at 8:42 pmI enjoyed the Minute Man / Minute Rice allusion. Do we just add water ?
Comment by barfly
________________________________
BOILING water, remember.
June 20th, 2007 at 8:45 pmTyranny and the Military Commissions Act
Of all the rights and freedoms mentioned and enumerated in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, the writ of habeas corpus is arguably the most important safeguard of individual freedom. Without the “Great Writ,†none of the other rights and liberties has much value.
To illustrate why this is so, let us assume that we live in a society in which everyone has the right of freedom of speech, including the right to criticize government programs. One day, someone criticizes some government policy. That day, a federal SWAT team conducts a no-knock raid and arrests the critic. The next day, several people protest the arrest, arguing that the prisoner has the right to criticize the government under principles of free speech. That afternoon, federal agents arrest and incarcerate some of the critics.
What could be done to get the prisoners released from incarceration? The answer is: Nothing, unless the society recognizes the writ of habeas corpus.
With habeas corpus, the prisoner files a petition with the judicial branch of government, asking a judge to order his custodian to appear before the judge to justify his incarceration of the prisoner. If the custodian refuses to comply, the judge issues an arrest warrant for him, which is enforced at the federal level by deputy marshals. Or let’s assume that the custodian shows up and says, “Your honor, the reason we’re holding him in custody is that he criticized the government.†In that case, the judge can order his immediate release, holding that criticizing the government is not a crime. Or if the judge incorrectly upholds the detention, the prisoner can file an immediate appeal to the appellate courts, which ordinarily give priority to habeas corpus proceedings.
Without habeas corpus, there is no way for a person who is being wrongfully detained to challenge his detention, even if the detention has gone on for years. In the absence of habeas corpus, he must continue to languish in prison until the authorities, out of the kindness of their hearts, decide to release him. That’s in fact the way things work in communist China and communist Cuba, where everyone is guaranteed freedom of speech but has no way to secure his release from prison after exercising it.
June 20th, 2007 at 8:46 pmIf someone could remind the board of Winston Churchill on the subject of habeas corpus? I would but its not easy on a treo in an airport….
June 20th, 2007 at 8:48 pmEnemy combatants
Does the fact that habeas corpus was canceled only for foreigners mean that Americans are immunized from the arbitrary arrests, torture, and indefinite detentions to which foreigners will be subjected under the MCA? No, because slipped into the law was the president’s and the Pentagon’s post–9/11 concept of “enemy combatants†in the war on terrorism. That concept applies not only to foreigners but also to Americans.
What does it mean to be designated an “enemy combatant†in the war on terrorism? Just ask Jose Padilla, an American citizen who was designated an enemy combatant. The Pentagon took Padilla into custody some three years ago and for two years held him incommunicado in a navy dungeon. Even worse, the Pentagon employed the psychological techniques of torture against him that the North Korean communists had employed against American GIs during the Korean War. Padilla was locked up in solitary confinement and denied any contact with the outside world, with the apparent aim of driving him out of his mind as a result of what psychiatrists call “sensory deprivation.†According to Padilla’s lawyers and psychiatrist, the mental torture has been successful, leaving Padilla with a disturbed state of mind that prevents him from assisting with his own defense.
The Pentagon takes the position that ever since 9/11, the U.S. military has wielded the power to treat any American just as it has treated Jose Padilla.
Padilla, through his lawyer, filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus, challenging his detention by the military. When the case was about to reach the U.S. Supreme Court, the government switched gears and announced suddenly that they were indicting him for the criminal offense of terrorism and transferring him to federal court jurisdiction.
The clever legal move deprived the Supreme Court of jurisdiction to hear Padilla’s case (because the issue of military detention had become moot) but, equally important, it left intact the federal court of appeals decision upholding the government’s “enemy combatant†concept.
June 20th, 2007 at 8:52 pmYou were VERY late to the importance of the loss of the Great Writ, Thinkprogress, your coverage is long overdue…..
June 20th, 2007 at 8:53 pmIf someone could remind the board of Winston Churchill on the subject of habeas corpus? I would but its not easy on a treo in an airport….
Comment by TerrytheTurtle — June 20, 2007 @ 8:48 pmIf someone could remind the board of Winston Churchill on the subject of habeas corpus? I would but its not easy on a treo in an airport….
Comment by TerrytheTurtle — June 20, 2007 @ 8:48 pm
Is this what you refer to?
June 20th, 2007 at 8:54 pmMr FOX has the scoop Thinkprogress…
June 20th, 2007 at 8:54 pmMissed your link or quote Marie….
June 20th, 2007 at 8:56 pmDon’t Americans accused of terrorism, though, still have the right of habeas corpus? Yes, but all that habeas corpus does is require the government to show that it is justified in holding the prisoner. If there is no legal justification – such as holding someone because he criticized the government – the judge will order his release. But if the Supreme Court upholds the “enemy combatant†concept, as the federal court of appeals did, then all that the government has to do at the habeas corpus hearing is show some evidence that the accused had indeed been designated an “enemy combatant†in the war on terrorism. Once the government does that, the judge will dismiss the petition for habeas corpus relief and leave the prisoner at the indefinite mercy of his custodians.
What about the validity of the “enemy combatant†concept? It is political and legal chicanery that effectively gives the U.S. military standby control over the American people. All that the military has to do is fill out a form with a person’s name on it – or with lots of people’s names on it – and have the commander in chief (whether Bush, Hillary Clinton, or anyone else who happens to be president) sign it. At that point, military units can sweep into neighborhoods and effect the arrests and incarcerations of American citizens.
June 20th, 2007 at 9:00 pmSomething about, his Muslim masters told him to bring down the US…
Comment by PRIMVS INTER PARES — June 20, 2007 @ 8:35 pm
Funny PIPpy shortstockings. I bet it really burns you up that Bartlebee is so much more entertaining than you are. Who’s Joker again, COMPtroller?
June 20th, 2007 at 9:08 pmFOX,
I usually hate the people that post lengthy and numerous posts. For you, I will make an exception. :)
THANKS!! Those were very informative.
June 20th, 2007 at 9:09 pmDon’t Americans accused of terrorism, though, still have the right of habeas corpus? Yes, but all that habeas corpus does is require the government to show that it is justified in holding the prisoner.
Comment by FOX — June 20, 2007 @ 9:00 pm
I see Cracker Jacks are still including Law Degrees in specially marked boxes.
Habeas Corpus, does a little more than that Matlock.
Habaes Corpus, is what makes sure you don’t dissappear in the middle of the night, never to be heard from again.
Which is exactly what Bush is doing to tens of thousands of people. Some of them, Americans.
June 20th, 2007 at 9:09 pmThe rest of your post is pretty good though.
June 20th, 2007 at 9:10 pmSo democracy will die with a whimper instead of a bang because Americans are too “distracted” to care.
June 20th, 2007 at 9:12 pmAll of the other protections we enjoy stem from Habeas Corpus, which is why no one until now was insane enough to even think of messing with it.
There’s a reason Habeas Corpus is known as “The Great Writ”, and to tamper with it, even just a little, is to dismantle our collective constitutional protections.
June 20th, 2007 at 9:13 pm> Olmert also met with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry
> Reid to obtain their broad support for military action against Iran.
> Pelosi’s comments welcoming the Prime Minister indicate that he is likely to get
> the backing he is seeking from the Congress.
We, the Leaders of the Resurgent States of America, with the assent of both Houses of Congress as well as of the Judiciary, hereby declare Permanent War, Domestic Control and Frequent Patriotic Feasts of Consumption. May the New RSA Regime shine like a beacon of light for the remainder of the Millenium!
June 20th, 2007 at 9:17 pmBartlebee - absolutely - there is a reason the Great Writ is nearly 800 years old…..
Ten Commandments? Hmmm, in many ways they seem more open to interpretation that the Great Writ.
June 20th, 2007 at 9:21 pmShane - at the risk of melodrama - I invite you to reread Robert Frost on the end of the world…..
June 20th, 2007 at 9:23 pmWhat You Should Know About Habeas Corpus
What is Habeas Corpus?
The “Great Writ” of habeas corpus is a fundamental right in the Constitution that protects against unlawful and indefinite imprisonment. Translated from Latin it means “show me the body.” Habeas corpus has historically been an important instrument to safeguard individual freedom against arbitrary executive power.
Why Did Congress Pass the Military Commissions Act?
In June 2006, the Supreme Court found in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld that military commissions at Guantanamo created by President Bush were invalid. The court said that the rules violated Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions regarding the treatment of detainees being held indefinitely.
After the decision, President Bush asked Congress to pass legislation that would make the military commission trials legal and strip detainees of their due process habeas rights — which they did by passing the Military Commissions Act right before November 2006 elections.
How Does the Military Commissions Act Take Away Habeas Rights?
Section 6 of Military Commissions Act strips any non-citizen, declared an “enemy combatant” by any president, of the right to be heard in court to establish his or her innocence, regardless of how long he or she is held without charge. This habeas-stripping provision applies to the detainees held in U.S. custody at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere. It violates the Constitution and basic American values.
Is it Constitutional to Strip a Person of Their Habeas Rights?
No, Section 6 of the Military Commissions Act is unconstitutional and will eventually be struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. Several cases challenging the law are already working their way through the courts.
What Can I Do?
June 20th, 2007 at 9:24 pmTwo bills have been introduced in Congress that would restore habeas corpus rights — the Restoring the Constitution Act of 2007 (H.R. 1415, S. 576) and the Habeas Corpus Restoration Act (H.R. 1416, S. 185). Help us: Urge members of Congress to cosponsor and support this vital legislation and spread the word.
Another giant leap into the Dark Ages. Time for all Americans to seriously consider seeking refugee status and end paying taxes to criminals that hijacked America.
June 20th, 2007 at 9:27 pmComment by TerrytheTurtle — June 20, 2007 @ 8:48 pm
Sorry, TtT I must have messed it up the first time. Is this the quote you asked about?
We must never cease to proclaim in fearless tones the great principles of freedom and the rights of man which are the joint inheritence of the English speaking world and which, through Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights, the Habeas Corpus, trial by Jury and the English common law find their most famous expression in the American Declaration of Independence.
Winston Spencer Churchill
June 20th, 2007 at 9:31 pmSpeaking in Fulton, Missouri, March 5th 1946
I weep for my Country. God help us!
Comment by Jim Wolf359
Better not be the same God BRuschCoâ„¢ prays to…
June 20th, 2007 at 10:05 pmSo democracy will die with a whimper instead of a bang because Americans are too “distracted†to care.
Comment by shane
Quick, everybody!!! Isn’t that Britney Spears getting out of a limo sans panties?
June 20th, 2007 at 10:07 pmSo democracy will die with a whimper instead of a bang because Americans are too “distracted†to care.
Comment by shane
Quick, everybody!!! Isn’t that Britney Spears getting out of a limo sans panties?
Comment by The Republic of Stupidity
HEY, that’s a different BANG.
June 20th, 2007 at 10:12 pmFOX,
namaste,
and thank you for the great posts. I could not have said it better.
I hope you will continue to post here, and elsewhere.
June 20th, 2007 at 10:12 pmHEY, that’s a different BANG.
Comment by shane
Ture, but is it that Bigger Bang we’re all looking for?
June 20th, 2007 at 10:15 pma general strike is being planned… An ad will go out this summer giving enough time for all to be ready for the event in the fall. Ray Taliaferro and Mike Malloy have talked about this. The strike itself will last only an hour or so. At the specified strike time all stop what they are doing..do nothing for that hour. If all did this, it is felt it would make a great impact and send a message. Fall was chosen, as many are finished with vacations. If this is a success more will be planned.
June 20th, 2007 at 10:18 pmWhile the pending Habeas Restoration legislation now moving in the Senate (S185) and the House (HR1416) is absolutely necessary, from what I can determine, these bills restore Habeas rights for foreign detainees but do nothing to rescind the patently unconstitutional language allowing the president to declare anyone, citizen or legal immigrant, an enemy combatant and deny this basic right.
As slow as Washington moves, I guess this means that the next Democratic president could declare Bush, Cheney, Gonzales, Rove, and on into infinity, enemy combatants and send them off to a truly undisclosed location. Before rescinding the whole MCA, of course.
June 20th, 2007 at 10:24 pmThe strike itself will last only an hour or so. At the specified strike time all stop what they are doing..do nothing for that hour.
Comment by had enough — June 20, 2007 @ 10:18 pm
Ok, but I don’t need a special occasion to do nothing for an hour.
:P
June 20th, 2007 at 10:25 pmThe coup is over and it was successful. Apologies to the founding fathers.
June 20th, 2007 at 10:29 pmBARTLEBEE
some do need the warning or special occasion….seriously, I think this may work… folks are putting time and effort into this plan… if the masses participate think what the message could bring. We have nothing to lose and maybe a lot to gain.
June 20th, 2007 at 10:34 pmHEY, that’s a different BANG.
Comment by shane
Ture, but is it that Bigger Bang we’re all looking for?
Comment by The Republic of Stupidity
Well from what I heard … it was verrrry scarrrry.
June 20th, 2007 at 10:41 pmWell from what I heard … it was verrrry scarrrry.
Comment by shane
True, and if I’m not mistaken, it was shaved too… brrrrr… that’s just a little TOO much information, isn’t it?
Hey, everybody, LOOK! isn’t that Paris Hilton having sex w/ a Dobermann in the bushes?
June 20th, 2007 at 10:48 pmFOX, brilliant posts. Clear, concise and informative. Too bad most Americans have nor will ever have a clue as to what they lost. Most of us are dumber than Bush…a truly frightening thought.
June 20th, 2007 at 11:32 pmIt’s nice to know the DC Circuit Court is looking out for our rights.
Not.
Assh*les.
June 20th, 2007 at 11:39 pmFOX,
June 20th, 2007 at 11:48 pmbrilliant and informative!
Marie,
great quota from WC
Another nail in the coffin for democracy here in the good ol’ US of A. Do people in this country even have a clue? Did it even make the papers?
June 21st, 2007 at 12:00 amAnother nail in the coffin for democracy here in the good ol’ US of A. Do people in this country even have a clue? Did it even make the papers?
Comment by W. Clements
Well it certainly get didn’t get across the circle-jerk going on over at the talk radio thread…
June 21st, 2007 at 12:36 ama general strike is being planned… An ad will go out this summer giving enough time for all to be ready for the event in the fall. Ray Taliaferro and Mike Malloy have talked about this. The strike itself will last only an hour or so. At the specified strike time all stop what they are doing..do nothing for that hour. If all did this, it is felt it would make a great impact and send a message. Fall was chosen, as many are finished with vacations. If this is a success more will be planned.
Comment by had enough — June 20, 2007 @ 10:18 pm
it should be july 6th, many people will be on vaca that week, the july 4th is wednesday, and we should celebrate by striking on the birthday of the president who has done nothing but vacationed the past six years
June 21st, 2007 at 12:37 amBTW, this may hav been said already, but I’m too drunk to read all the comments –
Thanks TP, for finally covering the habeas corpus issue — now that it’s dead.
June 21st, 2007 at 12:56 amBravo!!! Great commentary here.
I hope that TP will more closely track these crucial issues in the future — habeus, MCA, Padilla — these are among the greatest crises we face today. I fear that restoration of the constitution will not come so easily given the extent of our descent into fascism.
June 21st, 2007 at 2:43 amSome interesting reading :
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/062007A.shtml
June 21st, 2007 at 8:02 amThis is a dark, shameful age in America.
June 21st, 2007 at 9:17 amCongress needs to make restoring habeas corpus it’s number one priority.
I fear for this country. There is no way the Bush Crime family is going to let loose of their power. Bush is going to invade Iran, declare a public emergency and disband Congress. He will then stop the election in 08 and declare himself Dictator of the United States of America.
June 21st, 2007 at 9:33 amFox,
June 21st, 2007 at 9:41 amIs not the Military COmmissions act unconsitutional on its face, in that Congress cannot just “pass a law” that abrogates a Constitutional protected right? I mean how can a law trump the Constitution?
Let’s expose this administration and this government for what it is: the current generation of tyrants challenging the American people and their unalienable rights.
Put the spotlight on them: champions of torture; champions of warrantless wiretaps; champions of suspension of basic rights; champions of abuse of power protected by secrecy; ruler…NOT servants…of the people.
Let’s remove the dignity they claim…their “legitimacy”...and let them be exposed…fully. They need to be challenged at every turn for what they do. The press won’t do it. Our elected officials won’t do it. WE THE PEOPLE must do it.
Boycott, ignore and denounce their press conferences, statements, studies, etc. We can easily humble the powerful by losing interest in them…and showing them contempt when we occasionally lift our heads to hear the propaganda they spout.
June 21st, 2007 at 12:01 pmComment by Marie — June 20, 2007 @ 9:31 pm
That was not the one I was thinking of - but it is a great quote. Here’s mine. Thanks to cinnamonape on Firedoglake - I was having trouble finding it.
Winston Churchill on Habeas Corpus
“…the great principle of habeas corpus and trial by jury, which are the supreme protection invented by the British people for ordinary individuals against the state. The power of the executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him judgement by his peers for an indefinite period, is in the highest degree odious, and is the foundation of all totalitarian governments.â€
“It is only when extreme danger to the state can be pleaded that this power may be temporarily assumed by the executive, and even so its working must be interpreted with the utmost vigilance by a free parliament…â€
“Nothing can be more abhorrent to democracy. This is really the test of civilisation.â€
[Winston Churchill in a minute about the Mosley family to the Home Secretary, 21 November 1943]
And finally:
“The power of the executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him judgement by his peers for an indefinite period, is in the highest degree odious, and is the foundation of all totalitarian governments.” – Winston Churchill
I’m adding your from the Iron Curtain speech to my archive.
June 21st, 2007 at 12:32 pmI am having trouble with this DC Court: They are contradicting the Richmond Court in re [ Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri ], which said he did have the right to petition for the writ and was outside MCA.
Wuuld like to see some discussion to help reconcile while two federal courts have different views on whether Habeas is or is not permitted. Burdn on DC Court to show the Richmond Appeals court got it wrong.
If there is no habeas right, how is the uS government going to show that it allows prisoners to challenge abusive detentions:
http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/ paperchase/ 2005/ 08/ enemy-combatant-detained-in-military.php
The legal results do not appear to be consistent with the notion of written law, the right to challenge Geneva violations, especially when the US President decides to ignore Geneva.
June 21st, 2007 at 1:46 pm