Habeas Corpus is an ancient doctrine that basically says a person must be brought to a real court, presented with real charges, and a decision must be made as to whether the person should remain in custody.
Abraham Lincoln suspended the write of Habeas Corpus during the Civil War to hold Confederates in the Union without bringing them to trial.
It was wrong then, and it is wrong now. If these are truly bad people we have in Guantanemo (and I'm not convinced that all of them are bad, since many of them were given to us by other dictators they pissed off), then there should be no issues with bringing them to trial. A country should not be afraid to take people to a real courtroom, not a military tribunal, if it really believes that the said persons committed crimes.
This ruling is an important victory for Liberty, since the government was on a slippery slope of being able to detain anyone, including American citizens, and keeping them locked up forever without a trial.
I have long been against holding these people without a trial. If it is proven that they killed Americans, we should execute them. But every person deserves the right to a fair trial, and this is what we were denying.
Sorry Bush, sorry McBush, oops I mean McCain. You aren't above the law anymore.
2 comments:
Habeus Corpus should only deal with misdemeanors, felonies and federal crimes. When it comes to war crimes, Habeus Corpus has no worth. Military tribunals try war criminals and they do it the way they do it. Terrorists don't deserve habeus corpus and by granting them this, I have a feeling that most will be released from prison and may get even with the US by pulling an even bigger attack on US soil/the soldiers. That's how I feel.
No crime is such that habeas corpus is not acceptable. Even a suspected terrorist deserves the right to a fair trial. If we abandon our legal system, we are not different from those who wish to harm us.
Habeas corpus simply guarantees them a right to a trial. This is a fundamental right of our system of law. We cannot simply lock everyone away and throw out the key. Some of those who are in GITMO have already been released to their home countries, and several of these countries, including Western nations such as the UK and Australia have deemed them to not be threats. We did not catch these guys with a bomb in their hand. They were given to us by other corrupt warlords in Afghanistan.
It is a slippery slope to deny anyone the right to due process, because before long, you will see it applied to American citizens. And when that happens, we will truly have lost this country.
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