Habeas Corpus
Read the links here for a review on an attempt by neocon senate lapdogs to roll back the Magna Carta. Some ex-grunts disagree with the idea.
The principle of habeas corpus (lit. have the body) is generally concerned with the right of a prisoner to appear before a court.
I cannot see how any law that intends to apply a suspension of habeas corpus only to "Enemy Combatants" can get around US Const. Amendment 14, § 1:
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Note that the emphasised section says "person", not "citizen."
Perhaps there are judicial precedents ruling that secretly the amenders only meant "people we like."
2 comments:
"nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
I think the issue is that of Jurisdiction. Some are arguing that camp X-ray and the like are outside the jurisdiction of the US court system.
However they are not, of course, outside the jurisdiction of the US Gov. though. That seems to me to be the deciding factor.
I do not see a distinction between the jurisdiction of the courts and the government. By it's very definition jurisdiction implies courts:
"The right and power to interpret and apply the law." The government is subject to the jurisdiction of the courts, and therefore so are all of it's actions.
In any case, the Amendment does not mention "Court"; it applies to:
"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof"
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