Habeas Corpus

On June 26th, 2007, activists all over the country will be visiting the district offices of their elected officials or coming to Washington, D.C. to tell Congress to restore the centuries-old writ of habeas corpus. Your elected official's vote is critical to the success of this initiative. Your voice is needed in support of due-process and the rule of law.When Congress passed the Military Commissions Act last fall, a section was included that prohibited any non-citizen in U.S. custody that the President designated an "enemy combatant" from going to court and exercising the most basic human right – the right to go before a court and ask the government to show that they have a basis for their detention. This prohibition restricted people who have been in US custody for more than five years continue to be held with no meaningful judicial review.

This is the story behind the act:
Over 750 men from more than 40 countries have been held at Guantanamo since the first transfer of detainees in January, 2002. Some have been in custody for more than five years, and none have ever been convicted of committing any crime. In June, 2004, The Supreme Court ruled in the case of Rasul v. Bush that detainees in Guantanamo did have access to federal courts. Thus, hundreds of detainees filed writs of habeas corpus, challenging the conditions and basis of their detentions.
Ever since the Supreme Court ruled in the Rasul case, the Bush administration has been working to keep any of these habeas cases from going forward. In December of 2005, Congress passed the Detainee Treatment Act (DTA). The DTA stripped Guantanamo detainees of the right to file habeas cases in federal court. In June of 2006, in the case of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, the Supreme Court held that the DTA was not retroactive and therefore did not affect the hundreds of habeas cases in federal court. Finally, in October of 2006, the President signed the Military Commissions Act (MCA) into law, a bill that stripped Guantanamo detainees and others of fundamental human rights, including the right to habeas.
In order to reverse the damage done by the MCA, Senators Arlen Specter andPatrick Leahy introduced the “Habeas Corpus Restoration Act of 2007” (S. 185), and Congressman Jerrold Nadler and Congresswoman Jane Harman introduced the House version of the bill (HR 1416). These bills restore the right to habeas corpus for foreign nationals detained in Guantanamo and those living within the US who have been declared “unlawful enemy combatants.” It is extremely important that Congress pass the reforms enumerated in the “Habeas Corpus Restoration Act,” as it would be a significant first step in restoring US leadership on human rights.