The formalized concept that would become known as "habeus corpus", or the right of those incarcerated by the government to challenge the legality of their imprisonment, turned 792 years old yesterday.

The ACLU launched a really stupid campaign several weeks ago that personified Habeus Corpus, tuned it into a "him", declared him missing and set up discussion forums and meetings designed to raise awareness of his status as "missing"

I understand that, in order to engage the American people concerning anything more mentally challenging than underarm deodorant, the subject must be dumbed down and turned into a cartoon, but the ACLU's attempt is just, well, dumb.

Regardless of where anyone stands on the war or how one perceives that the fight against terrorists should be carried out, granting one branch of the government the ability to indefinitely detain anyone without having to prove the merits of that detainment in a court of law is fundamentally un-American. The police in this country don't randomly arrest people because they know they'll have to prove the validity of the arrest in court. This idea is one of those precious freedoms Mr. Bush keeps telling us we're fighting this war to preserve.

I've said it before and I'm sure to say it again (like, now for instance) but true Americans, red or blue or purple, at their core, do not trust the government. Our system of governing was created the way is was with mistrust of concentrated governmental power at its root.

No good American should be willing to allow the government to indefinitely detain anyone for any reason.

Anywho, Happy Birthday Habeus!

Anthony D. Romero: Cutting the Cake for an Ancient Rule of Law

The irony is that habeas corpus was born of war and conflict, not peace and harmony. It was forced upon a reluctant monarchy in response to an unpopular war and autocratic, arrogant rule. In short, habeas is the precedent that defines how a just society faces a crisis -- it is not an antiquated ideal from simpler times.
(...)
Today, habeas is arguably the single most important legal lever to prevent unjust and indefinite imprisonment. But the Bush administration has fought single-mindedly, and over strenuous internal dissent, to deny people detained by our government any right to bring habeas petitions in our civilian courts.

Instead, it concocted an unprecedented and unjust system of "military commissions" that permit the introduction of confessions extracted by normally inadmissible hearsay.

And that's just for the "lucky" few who actually get "charged" with war crimes. The rest of the "enemy combatants" don't even get a day in court. Instead, they are locked up until further notice.