Bill To Restore Habeas Introduced

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The New York Sun

Senators Specter and Leahy have introduced legislation to reinstate federal court jurisdiction over Guantanamo detainees and other suspected enemy combatants.

The “Habeas Corpus Restoration Act of 2006” would repeal two provisions of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 enacted in September that severely limit the ancient right of habeas corpus, the legal term from the Latin — literally “you may have the body” — which allows a citizen to question before a judge whether his detention is legal.

“The Constitution of the United States is explicit that habeas corpus may be suspended only in time of rebellion or invasion,” Mr. Specter said. “We are suffering neither of those alternatives at the present time. We have not been invaded, and there has not been a rebellion.”


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