The idea that the Executive Branch can decide when habeas corpus applies and when it doesn't is an anathema to Constitutional guarantees. History of the Habeas Corpus University of Virginia history professor Paul Halliday writes that the writ of habeas corpus has served the Anglophone legal cultures for "…more than four centuries," and its purpose is basically to assure that a prisoner will be brought before a judge and not simply thrown into incarceration without specific charges against him (Halliday, 2010, p
C. The second instance was after the Civil War when Congress gave authorization to President Grant to suspend habeas corpus in the "Ku Klux Klan Act" (Jackson, 2003, p
In the United States, the Judiciary Act of 1789 fully recognized the power of federal courts to issue writs for federal prisoners, but in 1915 the High Court (Frank v. Mangum) "…broadened federal habeas corpus review to ensure that states supplied some 'corrective process'" so criminal defendants could also embrace habeas corpus rights (Scheb, 2008, 261)
Halliday notes that among the sources that were used as background narrative to create habeas corpus is the Magna Carta (reputed to be the first document laying out democratic principles); the thirty-ninth clause in the Magna Carta asserts that "No free man shall be arrested or imprisoned…except by lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land…" (Halliday, 15). The words "habeas corpus" was often used in the vocabulary of civil procedure as early as the thirteenth century, albeit it was not connected to democratic procedures; it simply represented "a command, issued as a means…" to link a defendant to some action while he was being brought before a court (Zellick, et al
Therefore, it's actually one of the most, if not the only, significant part of the U.S. Constitution that protects individual rights (Chemerinsky, n
This basically meant that the courts didn't have common law or natural authority to grant writs of habeas corpus. The understanding of the dimensions of the writ could be provided by the common law but the power to grant it depended upon and was restricted by the authority the Congress vested in the courts by statute (Doyle, 2006)
As the commander in Chief, the President has a major role in determining the applicability of habeas corpus through the Supreme Court may make several rulings to the contrary in attempts to protect civil liberties. Nonetheless, Supreme Court rulings have sent a message that the president's war policies could only continue if they received statutory support from new congressional legislation (Shaw, 2009)
Merryman hired a lawyer petitioned Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney with the purpose of implementing the habeas corpus act. Taney responded by asking General George Cadwallader to acknowledge the ideas put across by the habeas corpus theory and to provide Merryman with the opportunity to stand in front of a court (Dueholm)
The case involved Boumediene, a naturalized citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who was held captive in the Cuban Guantanamo Bay detention camps. The June 12, 2008 Supreme Court decision claimed that enemy combatants detained in Guantanamo Bay have the constitutional privilege of habeas corpus (Garcia, 2008, p
CONSTITUTION to create a detainment facility at the Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay to incarcerate individuals who were suspected of involvement in the events of 9/11 or other acts of terrorism." (Schultz, 2009, p
Lincoln came across exceptional circumstances and this influenced the Supreme Court and lower federal courts to ignore the matter. Such actions are certainly unconstitutional in times of peace and this is why the Lincoln case is an exception from the rule (Vile, 2010, p
S. Constitution, which provides that the privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it (Hafetz, Yale)
Lundy. The rule forces the habeas petitioner to decide whether to "withdraw the entire petition, try to exhaust the unexhausted claims, and return to federal court months or years later; or proceed solely with the exhausted claims by dropping the unexhausted claims, in the hopes of exhausting them later (Hoffstadt, Duke)
" Several states have since suspended the privilege when martial law has been declared by state executives during strikes. Suspension by Lincoln President Abraham Lincoln was a strong defender of law, liberty and the Constitution, but made some questionable decisions when he "suspended individual liberties, shutting down anti-war and anti-administration newspapers and jailing dissidents (Kleinfeld, 24)
" The act was to "better secure the liberty of the subject, and prevent imprisonment beyond the seas. This writ does not judge whether a prisoner is guilty or not, it is meant to give the prisoner the right to contest whether his or her imprisonment is valid (Kolakowski, Criminal Law)
Over time the scope expanded due to jurisdictional disputes between the superior courts and local courts of England. Habeas corpus cum causa was the form of habeas corpus used by the courts which "compelled the sheriff to produce the prisoner who was the subject of the courts' jurisdictional dispute (Orye, law review)
In its decision, the court ruled that Guantanamo prisoners have a constitutional right to use courts in the United States based on the habeas corpus Suspension Clause. In addition, the Supreme Court overturned legislature by Congress pursuing to rob them of that right and refute them an unbiased trial to contest their sustained incarceration (Elsea and Garcia, 2010)
Bush, where the court put down and precluded laws that suspended the freedom and liberty to habeas corpus for individuals who were considered to be illegal participants in the war on terror. In these kinds of acts and instances, it can be clearly seen that the Supreme Court is accomplishing its role as a protector of civil liberties (Gaffney, 2009)
This detainment encompassed those detained at Guantanamo Bay. The Supreme Court thereafter ruled for the district courts to hear the petitions (Hafetz, 2010)
federal government with the authority to perch the injunction to begin with. In accordance to Nicholas Quinn Rosenkrantz who is a professor in constitutional law, deduces that Congress has the only power and authority to be able to suspend the writ of habeas corpus with reference to the constitution (Natelson, 2013)