The attached article includes a link to a New York Times analysis of the idea of preventive detention suggested by President Obama in his speech on May 21. The Constitution provides for the right of habeas corpus, meaning that a person can only be incarcerated for a limited amount of time before being charged or released. Period. End of statement.
The Constitution says, in Article I, which covers the powers of Congress, "The privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in case of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it." President Lincoln suspended habeas corpus during the Civil War, and the Supreme Court found (but not until after the war) that he lacked the authority to do so. As far as I can tell, there is no rebellion underway in the United States at this time, nor is the country subject to a foreign invasion. Therefore, no one in the government has the power to suspend the writ of habeas corpus.
In other words, whether there are "bad dudes" at Guantanamo, or elsewhere, isn't the question. The only question is whether the government is prepared to bring criminal charges against the people it has detained. If not, it should turn them loose immediately. Preventive detention has no place in the American Constitutional system, and I am amazed that the President would even suggest that we make room for it.
Glenn A Knight
In my study
Monday, May 25, 2009
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Here is the link to the New York Times article I mentioned in the original post. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/23/us/politics/23detain.html?_r=1
> The only question is whether the
> government is prepared to bring
> criminal charges against the
> people it has detained. If not,
> it should turn them loose
> immediately. Preventive
> detention has no place in the
> American Constitutional system...
There's another situation where preventive detention is not only tolerated, but criticized as being insufficient. That is the case of convicted sexual predators.
Many states allow sexual predators to be incarcerated beyond the conclusion of their sentences. Often, there need not be any legal proceedings at all; the state merely needs to assert that the individual is a a threat to re-offend.
Here in Washington State, a person so detained has no hope of being released unless he agrees to participate in a treatment program while locked up. Of course, this program is predicated in part on his admitting his crimes; a wrongly convicted person could stay locked up forever unless he confesses.
This type of confinement is not only tolerated, even by many fervent civil libertarians, it is often criticized as not being tough enough on the convicted.
In this piece, Jack Hitt compares President Bush to the Sheriff of Nottingham. http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2008/09/pursuit-habeas
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