Do you know what a writ of "habeas corpus" is, and why it is important to you?

Question

President Bush just signed a law that allows him to designate ANYONE as an "enemy combatant," and then you or I could be held in prison indefinately (forever) without being charged, and not mandatory legal appeal.
President Roosevelt used a similar law to imprison over 100,000 Japanese-American citizens in WW II,
which President Reagan apologised for.
Is this frightening?
The carpet is moving under our feet, and we must walk to stay in the same place!
Is this the America we want?
Habeas Corpus started in 1300. Should we abandon it? Is this freedom?

Answer 1

People are going to say "Thats not how the bill was meant!"" But actually we have all changed since Bush's stroke of the pen the other day. And a very broad stroke it was.The Right of Habius Corpus is no longer in effect if someone in the government wants to label you as a combatant. You no longer have a right to trial, a lawyer, nothing. This will go down in history as a day freedom deminished from the Constitution.of the United States. This is NOT what our forefathers intended. The future will show how this change will be fought.

Answer 2

WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 — The Senate approved legislation this evening governing the interrogation and trials of terror suspects, establishing far-reaching new rules in the definition of who may be held and how they should be treated.
The legislation sets up rules for the military commissions that will allow the government to prosecute high-level terrorists including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, considered the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. It strips detainees of a habeas corpus right to challenge their detentions in court and broadly defines what kind of treatment of detainees is prosecutable as a war crime.

The bill was a compromise between the White House and three Republican senators who had pushed back against what they saw as President Bush’s attempt to rewrite the nation’s obligations under the Geneva Conventions. But while the president had to relent on some of the key specifics, it allowed him to claim victory in achieving one of his main legislative priorities.

“As our troops risk their lives to fight terrorism, this bill will ensure they are prepared to defeat today’s enemies and address tomorrow’s threats,” Mr. Bush said in a statement shortly after the vote.

A similar bill was passed by the House of Representatives
VR

Answer 3

Habeas Corpus according to your description is just but a ledgalized martial law (here in our country it was a law ordered to CONTROL the public). Control for me is all but manipulating human acts and will. Therefore for me, habeas corpus is to be condemned to ignorance of the laws necessary for human to live harmoniously. I'm not doing anything against the law. I'm speaking for myself. Better lend some appeal to the congress. Please do not prejudge what I am fighting for I'm just expressing what I know, and for those who can't may hold peace, what can be juster in a state than this. Remember the patriots who fought to obtain your freedom, the former presidents dedicated their lives and enthusiasm in their office. They spent and sacrificed everything just to obtain what they are disposing right now- freedom.....

Answer 4

Writ of habeas corpus is an order of the court to present a person and justify the custody or detention of said person. It is important because no person will be apprehended for no valid reason.

Answer 5

Habeas corpus is one of the foundations of our legal system. giving that up would be one of the major downfalls of our society. president bush should be casterated and hung from a tree along with the rest of his family. i can't wait for 2008 when he is out of office.(unless the douchbag declares martial law and i wouldnt put it past him)

Answer 6

It is to ensure that people are alive and well. It should never be abandoned because it is now an American tradition and represents our fair way to live. If it goes away we become Soviet America. Consider the libertarian party

Answer 7

It is, in time of crisis real or invented by politicians, relatively easy to get citizens to agree to suspending the Constitution for OTHERS.

The US did it to the Japanese during WW II. And even after WW II ended, Canada was deporting Japanese-Canadians, BORN IN CANADA and Canadian citizens, to Japan. And the Privy Council (highest court) approved it!
http://uniset.ca/other/ths/cooperative.htm

Martin Niemoller said it well:

First they came for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time there was no one
left to speak up for me.

http://www.hoboes.com/html/FireBlade/Politics/niemoller.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Niem%C3%B6ller

I haven't much to say that is good about Adam Gedahn, but it seems that hysteria and craven pandering to popular hatreds are doing it again: indicting Gedahn for treason, the way poor Iva Toguri D'Aquino (who died a few weeks ago) was convicted of treason for being "Tokyo Rose" just because William Randolph Hearst said she was: http://uniset.ca/other/cs5/192F2d338.html

Answer 8

You make it seem as if he would actually single YOU out. He isn't going to waste his time on that. What would the story be if he failed to do it to someone dangerous and that person performed a heinous act on your family? Better safe than sorry.

Answer 9

Yes, I know what it is, and yes, I know why it's important - It's horrific that such a right could be abolished so easily . . .it's outrageous. . . .