Writ of Habeas Corpus

The Framers of the US Constitution considered this provision to be the "Great Writ of Liberty."   Included in the English Magna Carta, it has been regarded as a basic tool to safeguard liberty.  Its purpose is to protect the individual from being treated without any due process, and put in jail indefinitely.  If you are imprisoned, you or someone acting for you can demand a court order requiring that you be taken before a judge to see if you are being unfairly held.  The judge will listen to the evidence and either set you free or agree that you can be held pending your trial.  The writ of habeas corpus also protects peoples who can convince a judge that they have been unfairly convicted of a crime. 

In October 2006, the US Congress passed and the president signed into law the Military Commissions Act.  Section 6 of the Military Commissions Act strips any non-citizen who has been declared an "enemy combatant" by the president of the right to habeas corpus. 

It therefore allows the government to hold people indefinitely without the most historic right of due process, a right that is guaranteed in Article 1, Section 9 of the US Constitution.  According to the Constitution, habeas corpus can only be suspended "when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it."  Neither case applied when habeas corpus was cast aside by Congress and the president.  Thomas Jefferson had called the protections provided by habeas corpus "essential principles of our government."

For a timeline of habeas corpus, see:

http://www.aclu.org/safefree/detention/habeastimeline.html