AG Gonzalez says habeas corpus NOT in constitution?

[Jeebo]

Well then, let's just PUT it in the constitution! Here's the text of my proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution:

"The right of habeas corpus shall not be abridged or denied by the United States or by any state or local government."

Let's just see ANY of those silly 'publicans in the Senate or the House try to justify a vote against THAT!

And while we're at it, why not introduce a resolution to re-affirm the Bill of Rights? We could not get the Bill of Rights passed today, so let's all be grateful it's already in the constitution. But let's see if the Orrin Hatches and Trent Lotts and San Brownbacks and Jean Schmidts would DARE to vote against a re-affirmation of the Bill of Rights, and then still call themselves "patriots"!

And while I'm on the subject of constitutional amendments, here's another one I'd like to propose:

"Redrawing of congressional districts shall occur only once within two years after the completion of each decade's census. District boundaries shall be drawn only along state or county lines, or using straight north-south or east-west lines."

THAT constitutional amendment would make gerrymandering just about impossible, don'tcha think?

I have some other ones I'd like to propose, but I have to go to work now.

Ron

[Hosnon]

1. I believe he said that the right to the writ is not *explicitly* granted.

Surely he can't think that the right is not implicit. As another poster pointed out, that which can be taken away must first belong.

[knight_of_the_star]

6. It's explicitly in there

The privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.

Article 1, Section 9. The only way he could miss it is if he's reading the wrong Constitution.

[jbonkowski]

2. The Founding Fathers

Didn't think you had to spell every little thing out. They felt that the right of habeas corpus was a given under common law (already several hundred years old at the time), and that they only needed to specify how unusual its suspension needs to be.

The current crowd at Justice Dept. go to great lengths to torture Constitutional interpretation.

Ever hear R's complain about judicial activism? This is exactly what they fear, tenfold. Are they complaining? Hello?

jim

[knight_of_the_star]

5. Habeas Corpus is in the Constitution

Right here:

Article 1, Section 9

The privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.

http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#A1Sec9

Which constitution is he reading, the Soviet Constitution?

[Donald Ian Rankin]

3. The bit on gerrymandering won't work,

You can approximate any line arbitrarily closely using only straight N/S and E/W lines.

You need to put a limit on the minimum length of such lines for it to be any good.

But I think that a far better approach would be to create an independent, impartial federal districting commission, and take districting out of the hands of partisans.

[Hosnon]

4. Good catch. Just look at any non-rectangular object on a computer screen. nt.