Action Alert: Critical Vote - Want the Constitution Back?

"There is nothing 'conservative' or 'tough on terrorism' in selectively stripping people of their rights."

– New York Times editorial

Dear Stephen,

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The Senate made a terrible mistake last October, and allowed President Bush to damage one of the oldest founding principles of our democracy. They gave the President the authority to seize people and hold them without ever explaining why -- despite the fact that the Constitution itself says he should not have that power.
 
Now some members of the Senate have recognized how big a deal this is, and they're trying to set it right. This week, the Senate will hold its first up-or-down vote on restoring habeas corpus. Inside sources say the vote will be close and many senators are undecided. Your senators need to know where constituents like you stand.

Tell your Senators to restore one of our most basic rights.

http://act.truemajority.org/o/1/t/3/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=1183
 
Maybe it sounds like a legal technicality, but the habeas corpus right is pretty simple, and pretty important. Keith Olbermann of MSNBC called it "the right of anyone who’s tossed in prison to appear in court and say 'Hey, why am I in prison?'."¹  Without that right, people get thrown into places like Guantanamo Bay for years with no evidence other than the say-so of a bounty hunter collecting his $5,000 fee.² And legal experts say the law is written so that anyone, U.S. citizen or not, could get that treatment if they run afoul of the President.³

The amendment offered by Senators Leahy and Specter to the Defense Authorization bill would restore habeas corpus. Without habeas corpus, it's a very slippery slope towards dictatorship. So urge your Senators to vote yes on the Leahy-Specter habeas amendment.

Matt Holland
TrueMajority Online Director

1 - The death of habeas corpus - MSNBC.com

2 - The Shame of Guantanamo – Washington Post Writers Group

3 - Challenging the Military Commissions Act, Jurist, October 04, 2006

For More Information:

Article I, Section 9, Clause 2 of the Constitution of the United States:
 
“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.” [italics added]

Who's Really Locked up in Guantanamo? 

The right of habeas corpus is one of the oldest founding principles of our democracy –- the right of someone held by the government to ask why they have been seized. The Military Commissions Act cancelled that right, and I insist that the Senate restore it. I urge you to support the amendment to the Defense Authorization bill offered by Senators Leahy and Specter to restore habeas corpus.

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