Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Habeas Corpus

The following is a list of U.S. Senators who believe that the government should have the power to detain an individual - including you and me - without a trial, without even giving anybody a reason. If the government does not like what you wear, what you write, how you vote, whether or to whom you pray, or anything about you, it has the power to throw you in jail, and keep you there.

News about this legislation often says that this is about restoring habeas corpus to terrorist detainees. However, the whole point of the question becomes, "What does it take to become a terrorist detainee?"

If a detainee wants to claim, "You have the wrong person. You are looking for Al-Harra, but I am Al-Hara!" or even, "The only reason you are doing this to me is because I would not sign a contract with Haliburton," or "I am a reporter with irrefutable evidence that shows that the bidding was rigged to favor people who contributed to Republican campaigns," that's tough.

Once locked away, the "detainee" - under this legislation - is denied any opportunity to tell this to a judge or to demand that the government provide evidence to support its accusations.

Once upon a time, there was a country called "America", whose citizens would call this "Injustice" and would have pledged to fight against it, not vote for it.

Alexander (R-TN)
Allard (R-CO)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Bennett (R-UT)
Bond (R-MO)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Coleman (R-MN)
Collins (R-ME)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Craig (R-ID)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Dole (R-NC)
Domenici (R-NM)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hatch (R-UT)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Lieberman (ID-CT)
Lott (R-MS)
Martinez (R-FL)
McCain (R-AZ)
McConnell (R-KY)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Roberts (R-KS)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Stevens (R-AK)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Warner (R-VA)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You forgot Abraham Lincoln, suspended Habeas Corpus for the duration of the war

Alonzo Fyfe said...

Anonymous

Not really. For the government to suspend habeas corpus for the duration is this war is to suspend habeas corpus permanently.

There will always be at least a handful of people seeking to detonate a terrorist weapon somewhere - as long as humans exist. Some of them will succeed. Some will fail. If this fact is alone sufficient to justify the suspension of habeas corpus, then we will never see habeas corpus again.