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Habeas Corpus Research Paper

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Habeas Corpus Research Paper
Executive Power Concerning Habeas Corpus
POL 201
American National Government
Instructor: Jeffrey Long
15 November 2014

While the President has power under his right as the Commander- in- Chief, he is still subject to the interpretation of what is legally right based upon the laws of the Constitution. Such laws allow him the right to detain and try prisoners of war/ enemy combatants based upon military statutes and political authorizations. U.S. citizens hold certain civil liberties, one in particular being the right to know the charges brought against them in the event that they are detained for any crime. This civil liberty is commonly known as Habeas Corpus, and is extended to citizens who feel as though they have …show more content…
American colonist sought this act as a means to evade wrongful imprisonment by the British government, and due to the common suspension of this right, the early framers ensured that “The Privilege of the Wirt of Habeas Corpus” was incorporated into the Constitution, to include that such rights should not be suspended except in cases where Rebellion, Invasion or Public Safety requires it (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 2012). Since then, habeas corpus writs have evolved in American tradition, dating to the Lincoln and Roosevelt Presidency and as recent as the George W. Bush Presidency. Many texts even show how these Presidents regard the writ of habeas corpus, with the greater conflict of executive power against this right lying in the actions of President Bush and his stance on detaining captured enemy/suspected enemy …show more content…
These perspectives include the role of the President as Commander-in-Chief, the Congress in determining when habeas corpus can be suspended, the role of the Supreme Court in protecting these civil liberties and one’s own opinion living in a day and age where the war on terror has made it well into its 13th year. Concerning the Presidents Role, the issue becomes whether he is succeeding his power or not. Ward (1990) tells us that during the Civil War, President Lincoln suspended habeas corpus, ignoring the Chief Justices request, by claiming that “more rogues than honest men find shelter under habeas corpus”. On the contrary, in today’s conflict Foley (2007) begs to differ in that more honest men suffer the suspicion of being affiliated with Al Qeda and other terrorist groups because of the broad scope of the War on Terror, and are detained permanently, rather than the government properly identifying accurate procedures to determine actual terrorist from innocent citizens (p. 1010). This type of dentition gets its justification from an additional measure set in place by President Bush called the “Combatant Status Review Tribunal (CRST)” (Floey, 2007) which leaves the mind to wonder, how many innocent so called enemy combatants are held at Guantanamo Bay without access to habeas corpus
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