What is habeas corpus? It prevents dictatorship.

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Habeas corpus can only be suspended during revolt or invasion. It is then, more than any other time, the president is a dictator and is not subject to the checks and balances of powers, in this case, the judicial branch. BushCo wants one more step toward a dictatorship. Please read the following links and know what is going on. Torture is only their excuse.

The erosion of the Great Writ

American Judicature Society
Editorial
October 25, 2005

March 18, 1963 may have been the high water mark for the writ of habeas corpus, the so-called Great Writ. On that day, the Supreme Court considered the habeas petitions of Clarence Earl Gideon and Charles Noia and, in Gideon v. Wainwright and Fay v. Noia, established important safeguards for indigent defendants and personal liberty. In Noia, the Court concluded that Mr. Noia's continued incarceration was an affront to the "conscience of a civilized society," when it was revealed that his confession—the sole bit of evidence against him—had been obtained by police brutality. Even more important, the Court, after a long review of the history of the Writ, concluded that "ur survey discloses nothing to suggest that the Federal District Court lacked the power to order Noia discharged because of a procedural forfeiture he may have incurred under state law. On the contrary, the nature of the writ at common law, the language and purpose of the Act of February 5, 1867, and the course of decisions in this Court extending over nearly a century are wholly irreconcilable with such a limitation."

Since then, however, the courts and Congress have eroded the impact of the Great Writ, reducing it to a network of procedural hurdles for indigent defendants, frequently unaided by counsel, seeking to challenge the constitutionality of their convictions or sentences in federal court. And although Gideon sparked the "right to counsel revolution," and Noia hailed the Great Writ as the most important protection for personal liberty against intolerable government restraint, those pronouncements now languish in the recesses of memory. Dissenting in Stone v. Powell, Justice Brennan remarked in 1976 that "he groundwork is being laid today for a drastic withdrawal of federal habeas jurisdiction,”"and his words proved prophetic; within two decades of that decision, the Court in a series of decisions rolled back federal habeas protections nearly to pre-Noia levels.

Congress, too, bears responsibility for the demise of this historic check on government overreaching. Less than 10 years after the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA) created a statutory maze of obstacles to habeas relief, another chillingly titled bill of the same tenor, the Streamlined Procedures Act (SPA), is currently wending its way through the legislative process.

more: http://www.thejusticeproject.org/press/articles/the-erosion-of-the-great-writ.html

Habeas Protection Campaign



Habeas Repeal Measures Increase Threat of Wrongful Convictions

Status of the Legislation in Congress:

As Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) held a hearing on September 25, 2006 to examine proposals to limit Guantanamo detainees' access to habeas corpus review, other members of the Republican leadership were trying to strip away this right for US citizens convicted of crimes. With only days left before Congress adjourns for mid-term elections, some members of Congress continue to skirt regular order in an attempt to attach widely-criticized habeas repeal measures to unrelated legislation. While attempts to keep these unpopular measures off the DOD bill were initially successful, House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) is now insisting that a controversial "judiciary package" of crime legislation, which includes habeas-stripping measures, be attached to the DOD bill.

Take action today to stop this legislation!

About the Legislation

Although there is widespread opposition to the Streamlined Procedures Act and other legislation that would effectively repeal the "Great Writ" of habeas corpus, members of the House and Senate Judiciary committees continue to work behind closed doors to pass these reforms. Efforts are currently afoot to attach widely criticized habeas measures and 300 pages of other non-germane matters to a Department of Defense (DOD) Authorization bill that is presently in conference and will be finalized in the coming days.

This closed-door strategy is nothing new: in the past, Congress permitted widely opposed habeas legislation to bypass normal review. During eleventh hour Patriot Act reauthorization discussions, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Arizona) inserted two provisions that significantly limit the ability of the Great Writ to enforce important Bill of Rights protections.

more: http://www.thejusticeproject.org/national/habeas/