The most interesting non-news (or hardly-any-news) item of the week is a congressional effort to remove federal court jurisdiction over habeas petitions brought by GTMO prisoners. Even though you find only information in the back pages of the papers or the blogosphere, this development is very important. One of the rare spectacles of Congress taking drastic steps to prevent the courts from making decisions it doesn't like. It is likely that the law restricting habeas passes both houses -- and you bet Bush'll sign it!
Now here's the puzzle: Isn't habeas corpus protected by Article I, Section 9, of the Constitution? Yes, but it's not clear if the constitutionally protected habeas corpus rights extend to noncitizens detained in a foreign country and not held on American soil. The habeas rights Congress is about to restrict are based on statute and do extend to foreigners etc. Therefore, Congress seems to argue, they can be restricted by Congress. The federal courts will probably soon deal with this. Stay tuned!
A good discussion of the issue can be found on SCOTUSblog.
No comments:
Post a Comment