Freedom on the Rocks: Network gears up for Habeas Corpus fight
BERKELEY, CA-- The Military Commissions Act was signed by President Bush on
Tuesday, Oct. 17. In response, Pacifica Radio
has begun to produce programs to educate the public about the threats to democracy
posed by this legislation.
In a notice filed Wednesday, Oct. 18, the US Justice Department listed 196
pending habeas cases, some of which cover groups of detainees. The new law,
it said, provides that "no court, justice, or judge" can consider
those petitions or other actions related to treatment or imprisonment filed
by anyone designated as an enemy combatant, now or in the future.
Immediately after Bush signed, the Justice Department sent a letter to the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, informing the court
that it no longer has jurisdiction over a combined habeas case that had been
under consideration since 2004. U.S. District Court cases, which had been delayed
pending the appeals court decision, were similarly invalid, the administration
told that court.
The administration's persistence on the issue "demonstrates how difficult
it is for the courts to enforce in the face of a resolute executive branch that
is bound and determined to resist it," said Joseph Margulies, a Northwestern
University law professor involved in the detainee cases.
Pacifica's Washington DC Bureau Chief Verna Avery Brown
covered the topic recently on her regular WPFW program, What's at Stake. It
is also discussed in the current installment of Law and Disorder, a show from
the Center for Constitutional Rights that airs on WBAI.
For the Law and Disorder show, go to lawanddisorder.org
For What's at Stake, go here in the Audioport: www.audioport.org
The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) has also produced a five minute
update. The sound file is here
Additional coverage is being planned.
The right of habeas corpus – the righht to know why you are being detained
or imprisoned and to challenge it -- dates back almost 900 years, to the signing
of the Magna Carta. But like so many basic rights, it is becoming another casualty
of the so-called war on terrorism.
In 2004, the Supreme Court rejected the Bush administration's claim that detainees
at the U.S. facility at Guantanamo Bay weren't entitled to file such petitions.
Nevertheless, The Military Commissions Act not only repeals habeas corpus protections
against arbitrary arrest and jailings of indefinite duration, but also redefines
the concept of "unlawful combatant."
Here is the new, broadened definition:
"The term 'unlawful enemy combatant' now means - (i) a person who has
engaged in hostilities or who has purposefully and materially supported hostilities
against the United States or its co-belligerents who is not a lawful enemy combatant
(including a person who is part of the Taliban, al-Qaeda, or associated forces);
or (ii) a person who, before, on, or after the date of the enactment of the
Military Commissions Act of 2006, has been determined to be an unlawful enemy
combatant by a Combatant Status Review Tribunal or another competent tribunal
established under the authority of the president or the secretary of defense."
It doesn't say "alien" or "terrorist," although it specifically
includes members of the Taliban and al-Qaeda. It says "person" - any
person, including American citizens. As Bruce Ackerman, professor of law at
Yale, puts it:
"Buried in the complex Senate compromise on detainee treatment is a real
shocker, reaching far beyond the legal struggles about foreign terrorist suspects
in the Guantanamo Bay fortress. The compromise legislation... authorizes the
president to seize American citizens as enemy combatants, even if they have
never left the United States. And once thrown into military prison, they cannot
expect a trial by their peers or any other of the normal protections of the
Bill of Rights."
In short, Congress has apparently decided to give the president the powers
of a dictator. That's why the Pacifica Board of Directors passed its motion
two weeks ago (see below). I urge all managers and producers to consider this
-- and our responsibility to our listeners nationwide -- as the elections approach
and beyond, and to make relevant programming a priority in the weeks and months
to come. |
