Be Afraid America, Be Very Afraid
The Justice Department is at it again, seeking to turn the case of foreign student arrested in the U.S. on terrorism-related charges into another test case of Congress’ power to strip federal courts of the authority to hear habeas challenges.
Mischief such as this will have a whole lot more bearing on the future conduct of the War on Terror — and the future of America and its core values such as habeas corpus — than the news du jour.
Meanwhile, here’s what’s going on with the case of Al-Marri v. Wright in the Fourth Circuit Court:
Lawyers for Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, a citizen of Qatar who was arrested almost five years ago at his home in Peoria, Illinois, while he was a student at Bradley University, have urged the Fourth Circuit Court to deny the president the authority to detain him as an “enemy combatant.” Relying on the Civil War era case of Ex parte Milligan, the lawyers argued that “the Constitution prohibits the military imprisonment of civilians arrested in the U.S. and outside an active battlefield.”
Lyle Denniston notes at SCOTUSBlog that the case:
“[H]as the potential for confining the President’s detention authority to the situation that was explicitly before the Court in 2004 in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, one of the Court’s first rulings on war-on-terrorism issues. The Court there ruled that the President had the power to detain combatants ‘in the narrow circumstances alleged in this case’ — that is, an overseas capture in a field of combat of forces hostile to the U.S.“But, the Justice Department . . . argued that the Fourth Circuit no longer has any authority to decide Al-Marri’s case, because it is a habeas challenge and Congress in the new Military Commissions Act of 2006 stripped the federal courts of all authority to rule on detainees’ habeas cases. The case thus should be dismissed, the government argued in the filing.”
Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, a former deputy U.S. solicitor general and six former U.S. attorneys, among others, have joined the Al-Marri case in urging the Fourth Circuit to bar the federal government from detaining without charges any terrorism suspect not captured on a foreign battlfield.
Their amicus brief argues that:
“[T]he existing criminal justice system is more than up to the task of prosecuting and bringing to just those who plan or attempt acts within the United States — without sacrificing any of the rights and protections that have been the hallmarks of the American legal system for more than 200 years.”
WHY ARLEN LEFT THE RESERVATION
Meanwhile, Jeffrey Toobin has an excellent piece at The New Yorker on how Senator Arlen “Mr. Civil Liberties� Specter helped hasten the demise of habeas corpus.
Has there been any so-called moderate Republican who has been a bigger disappointment than Specter during The Decider’s rein of terror?
10 Responses to “Be Afraid America, Be Very Afraid”
Not only do I want Habeus Corpus restored for all US citizens but I think it would be an important statement to the world to include all enemy combatants.
This means that they get to go before a court with a competent lawyer and dispute the validity of their arrest. If the government lawyers can prove that there are national security reasons to hold the combatant then I am fine with our holding them until the conflict is resolved.
I think the US should pay for competent defensive council and do what it can to prove to the world our respect for justice.
Of all of the assaults on the Constitution by the Bush administration, none — repeat none — are bigger than the assault on habeas corpus.
What we should be very afraid of is the muslim presence in this country, not the government’s actions in trying to protect us from terrorism. There are those who immediately jumped to the conclusion that authorities overreacted to those muslim imams on the plane, meanwhile it turned out a couple of them did in fact have links to al qaeda. I’m in favor of erring on the side of assuming any muslim is up to no good. If that’s politically incorrect, or makes me a bigot and an islamophobe, so be it.
Boo Laura. Sorry, but yes, you’re a bigot. But since Timothy McVeigh was a Christian wacko, I should be very afraid of Christians too? How pathetic.
Shaun, I fully agree, of all the outrages of this administration, it’s throwing habeas corpus off the train that is the most reprehensible. The USA has always stood for this, at the core of not only our legal rights, but we have pressed arduously worldwide for others to follow this fundamental right: to challenge your imprisonment, know the charges against you and confront your accuser and the evidence.
Laura, how will you feel if President Hillary throws you in jail without charge, access to lawyers or right to trial? Indefinitely! Wake up, girl. It’s the heart of our justice system.
Laura:
You’ve got it exactly backwards. The War on Terror is first a foremost a war to protect America and its hallowed institutions. To throw out habeas corpus is to throw out the baby with the bath water.
The underlying deceit of the Bush administration’s War on Civil Liberties is that it claims we live in special times which necessitate the president having special powers, including stripping habeas corpus from the legal system, ignoring the Geneva Conventions and endorsing some of the cruelest forms of torture.
We do live in special times, but they do not require the destruction of fundamental priciples and rights that have held America in good stead through war and peace for 230 years.
One of the paramount fears of the Founding Fathers was that an unchecked president would become a de facto king like the king that the infant U.S. declared independence from and went to war against. Their fears have come true.
The next time you’re in front of a mirror, try asking yourself whether being an Islamophobe is more important than being an American who values its institutions.
Laura is from the Michel Malkin and Debbie Schussel mold of bigots. You can put lipstick on a pig……
Laura, more Americans have died at the hands of Christian wackos than Muslim wackos. Should we start looking at every Christian as a bigger threat than every Muslim?
You’re in favor of assuming every Muslim individual is guilty until proven innocent. Yes, that makes you an Islamophobe. It also makes you a very dangerous bigot. Do you realize that there are probably people you encounter in your everyday life who are Muslim? If you found out a coworker you respect greatly was Muslim, would you suddenly change your opinion of that person and assume they were a terrorist? If so, I feel sorry for you.
I read Laura’s comment differently. I didn’t get that she necessarily supports eliminating Habeus Corpus. I think she was expressing that we should apply special attention to people for whom we have any reason to suspect that they could have links to people who wish us ill.
If someone visits certain countries or associates with people with with violent intentions then I think it is appropriate for our security apparatus to check them out. Hopefully there will be judicial process available to protect us from frivolous or political abuse. That’s why I voted Democratic this time around.
Greendreams and Ryan, it is beyond absurd to suggest Christians are as much a threat to us as muslims. McVeigh truly was an isolated incident as opposed to the worldwide slaughter being perpetrated by muslims on a massive scale. You people need to get your heads out of the sand. Let’s not pretend that all religions are as equally vicious as islam. I know it may be PC to make that claim, but it’s patently false.
rudi, any person with common sense and a survival instinct should be islamophobic.