Okay, this really PISSES ME OFF!

[draconis]

According to this article, our esteemed Attorney General of these United States is both ignorant of the US Constitution and incapable of following basic logic.

From the article:

Yesterday, during Senate Judiciary Committee hearings, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales claimed there is no express right to habeas corpus in the U.S. Constitution. Gonzales was debating Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) about whether the Supreme Court’s ruling on Guantanamo detainees last year cited the constitutional right to habeas corpus. Gonzales claimed the Court did not cite such a right, then added, “There is no express grant of habeas in the Constitution.”

Specter pushed back. “Wait a minute. The constitution says you can’t take it away, except in the case of rebellion or invasion. Doesn’t that mean you have the right of habeas corpus, unless there is an invasion or rebellion?” Specter told Gonzales, “You may be treading on your interdiction and violating common sense, Mr. Attorney General.”

For the record, here is the definition of Habeas Corpus, from FindLaw.com:

Medieval Latin, literally, you should have the body (the opening words of the writ)
: any of several writs originating at common law that are issued to bring a party before the court
esp
: "habeas corpus ad subjiciendum" in this entry

habeas corpus ad subjiciendum
[-'ad-seb-'ji-se-'en-dem, -'ji-she-; -'äd-sûb-'yi-ke-'en-dûm]
New Latin, literally, you should have the body for submitting
: an extraordinary writ issued upon a petition challenging the lawfulness of restraining a person who is imprisoned or otherwise in another's custody
(called also the Great Writ)

Article I, Section 9, Phrase 2 of the US Constitution states (also from FindLaw.com):
"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."

I know of no Rebellion nor Invasion. Even ignoring that, Gonzales is trying to claim that there is no assurance of Habeas Corpus.

Sounds like he needs to go back to law school and brush up on his Constitutional Law!

Comments

[miintikwa.livejournal.com]

Gonzales has always been a Big Government, squash the Constitution like an annoying fly kind of guy.

It's why his appointment to the Attorney General seat made me so nervous in the first place.

He's more General than Attorney, anyway.

[jcbdragon.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean.

And as one of my co-workers put it, what do you expect from him, when his boss refers to the Constitution as "a God-damned piece of paper (http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7779.shtml)"??

[miintikwa.livejournal.com]

I'm reading a book by a former Fox contributer. It's called "The Constitution In Exile" and the author's name is Andrew P Napolitano. He's a judge.

He's also one of the most brilliant Constitutional scholars I have ever had the pleasure of reading. The book gets dry on occasion, but it's rarely boring, and I'm just appalled at some of the things Bush has been doing. The habeas corpus suspension is probably among the worst, but it's hardly alone.

[rike-tikki-tavi.livejournal.com]

Is that one of those positions, where he gets to be judge for the rest of his life?

Together with this, it makes me very afraid.

[jcbdragon.livejournal.com]

Fortunately, no -- only the Supreme Court Justices have permanent positions.

And you're right, that is very frightening, especially combined with this!

708 more days to go until 2008....

[mzlizzy.livejournal.com]

This reminds me of something a friend of mine told me about after attending Mississippi State University at her parent's insistence. She referred to it as 'Mississippi Virgin Syndrome' but it's the same sort of weaseling with words:

"Well, we weren't in a bed...and I didn't have all my clothes off...and he didn't say he loved me, so... I'm still a virgin."

He's trying to say that because the Constitution refers to Habeas Corpus, but doesn't straight out state that we have the right to it, that it's not included.

Rather like Clinton saying that a blow-job isn't sex. (Because he made them define sex before he'd answer the question.)

The Constitution *does* guarantee the right of Habeas Corpus, just because it doesn't say "We guarantee the right of Habeas Corpus" Gonzales want to ignore it.

I can't wait for 2008.

[jcbdragon.livejournal.com]

Yes, I've run into the "Mississippi Virgin Syndrome" before, in a book called "Southern Ladies and Gentlemen" by Florence King, although she called it something like the Southern Self-Rejuvenating Virgin. She then goes on to list all the reasons why it didn't really happen, and why she is therefore still a virgin. The list includes such things as:

We weren't in a bed.
I was drunk.
I didn't have all my clothes off.
He didn't have all his clothes off.
He didn't tell me he loved me.
He didn't tell me his name.
I didn't tell him my name.
He didn't have an orgasm.
I didn't have an orgasm.
Well... not really.
It happened in New York.



Although these are not nearly so bad as the one lady I heard about who would use an alum-laced solution to cause herself to tighten up, then claim with each new boyfriend that she was a virgin. Unfortunately, she slipped up at one point. She dated this one fellow, broke up with him, and then later got back together with him. She remembered that they'd dated before, but not that they'd slept together, so when she tried to claim that she was still a virgin....


I'm with you -- 2008 can't get here soon enough for me.

[mzlizzy.livejournal.com]

I love the list! I'll have to look for that book.

Another one of her stories included the roommate who 'flavored' peas with Crisco because 'it's just like bacon fat.'