Essential Cornerstone
Congress will attempt to restore one of the oldest and most important checks on arbitrary governmental power, the protection of habeas corpus. It’s a principle that no government is above the law and that all detainees can challenge the fairness of their detention in front of an independent court. This has been a cornerstone of Anglo-Saxton legal systems for 800 years.
In 2006, at Bush’s request, the law was changed so that certain detainees who are not citizens can now be denied the ability to question whether they are being wrongfully detained. Just prior to the election, congressional Republicans passed the Military Commissions Act, and stripped non-citizen detainees of the ability to question the legality of their detention in U.S. federal courts.
The Habeas Corpus Restoration Act (S. 185), is a bipartisan bill introduced by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Arlen Specter (R-PA), the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill would restore the right of detainees held at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere around the world to challenge the legality of their detention in a U.S. federal court.
Presently, these detainees are labeled “unlawful enemy combatants” Those imprisoned and do not have any procedure by which they can petition an independent judicial body to claim that they are being wrongfully detained. The Habeas Corpus Restoration Act (S. 185) would repeal the habeas corpus-stripping provision from the Military Commissions Act. The Habeas Corpus Restoration Act would allow independent courts to examine U.S. detention of non-citizen individuals labeled by the administration as “unlawful enemy combatants.”
As of March 1, the legislation has Senators Sherrod Brown (OH), Dianne Feinstein (CA), Frank Lautenberg (NJ), Hillary Clinton (NY), Russ Feingold (WI) and Ken Salazar (CO) as co-sponsors, but in order to move this legislation forward it needs much more support.
Contact your senators and ask them to cosponsor S. 185, the Habeas Corpus Restoration Act. If they are already cosponsors, thank them and urge them to encourage their colleagues to schedule a hearing and a vote on this bill.
In 2006, at Bush’s request, the law was changed so that certain detainees who are not citizens can now be denied the ability to question whether they are being wrongfully detained. Just prior to the election, congressional Republicans passed the Military Commissions Act, and stripped non-citizen detainees of the ability to question the legality of their detention in U.S. federal courts.
The Habeas Corpus Restoration Act (S. 185), is a bipartisan bill introduced by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Arlen Specter (R-PA), the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill would restore the right of detainees held at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere around the world to challenge the legality of their detention in a U.S. federal court.
Presently, these detainees are labeled “unlawful enemy combatants” Those imprisoned and do not have any procedure by which they can petition an independent judicial body to claim that they are being wrongfully detained. The Habeas Corpus Restoration Act (S. 185) would repeal the habeas corpus-stripping provision from the Military Commissions Act. The Habeas Corpus Restoration Act would allow independent courts to examine U.S. detention of non-citizen individuals labeled by the administration as “unlawful enemy combatants.”
As of March 1, the legislation has Senators Sherrod Brown (OH), Dianne Feinstein (CA), Frank Lautenberg (NJ), Hillary Clinton (NY), Russ Feingold (WI) and Ken Salazar (CO) as co-sponsors, but in order to move this legislation forward it needs much more support.
Contact your senators and ask them to cosponsor S. 185, the Habeas Corpus Restoration Act. If they are already cosponsors, thank them and urge them to encourage their colleagues to schedule a hearing and a vote on this bill.
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