Posted by
Matthew on Thursday, June 12, 2008 2:55:31 PM
Habeus corpus applies to enemy combatants. So sayeth the Supreme Court today. Habeus corpus means literally 'we command that you have the body'. The idea is that prisoners must be told why they are being held.
On the surface, that sounds pretty simple. "Well, why not just tell them why they're being held?"
The New York Times ran an article a few years back explaining how the government was plucking tidbits of intelligence from the Taliban by monitoring a set of web addresses. The day the story broke, the chatter stopped.
If telling the person why they are being held would compromise either human resources or other means of gathering intelligence, it would severely handicap the good guys (that's us, in case you forgot) in using those resources again. Agents aren't very useful if they're dead.
"But habeus is a Constitutional right." Yes, it is. One with very specific direction as to how it may be suspended. Article One, section 9 of the Constitution says that habeus may be suspended " when in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it."
I suspect the plaintiffs in this matter were arguing that this is not a case of rebellion or invasion. If that was their argument, there is logic to the claim. But the ultimate goals of al queda and their ilk is the destruction of America and Israel. That would seem to satisfy the public safety portion of the exemption.
The Constitution is the original Contract with America. It was not a contract with the world. Today's ruling calls this into question, and I fear will prove disastrous.