Preventive Detention Erodes the Constitution

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.