Habeas Corpus
Sarah Palin recently criticized Barack Obama for asserting that the writ of Habeas Corpus applies to ‘terrorists’.*
He fired back, and in my opinion, showed her who’s boss.
The responses to Obama’s defense of alleged terrorists’ right to Habeas Corpus have been interesting to say the least. I have read conservatives railing agaist him for sympathizing with terrorists, and claiming that he is extending American legal rights to non-Americans.
Both of these points are of course insane. The first, for the the reason that Barack so adeptly pointed out, because there are certain things we do not do as a country; it is part of our identity. We do execute people publicly, we do not segregate, and we do not scoop people up and hold them without reason. We just don’t do it. The moment we sacrifice these principles is the moment we are no better than they.
Silly but appropriate example: Superman. He would never kill an innocent to get to the bad guy, and sometimes it would torture him, but he held on to those principles. People laud the character for that.
The second point is a little more complicated, but I will start by saying that Habeas Corpus is not defined in the constitution as a privilege granted only to American Citizens. Here is what Article I Section 9 says exactly:
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.
It doesn’t say anything about ‘American citizen’, it was written to apply to any individual being held by the federal goverment, citizen or otherwise.
Also, we are not officially in the situtations of rebellion or invasion, so it cannot be suspended for one of those reasons.
There has been a huge debate in the supreme court lately, but with a few caveats, Habeas Corpus is still available to so-called ‘terrorists’. You cannot therefore argue that Obama is trying to give Americans’ rights to aliens, when the guarantee of latters’ access to said rights has been upheld by the supreme court.
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The ’shoot first, ask questions later’ mentality is too prevalent these days. And what bothers me the most is that if you even once question the battle cry ‘LET’S GET ‘EM”, then people label you an appeaser, or a sympathizer.
Don’t get me wrong; I am all about goin’ ‘n’ gettin’ ‘em, but I don’t think we can allow ourselves to trample the constitution into the ground in the process.
*(Habeas Corpus allows people being held by the government to question why they are being held)