Our Constitution and Habeas Corpus

  I am going to plug another website here which I think that everyone who is concerned about our habeas corpus rights should visit.

    The people over at Daily Kos have a very good series on the matter which they are calling Restoring Our Constitution and the series is very much keeping a close eye on what the Supreme Court and our Congress are doing with the right of habeas corpus.

    The entire series should be read and it is up to date as of today so go visit the place and get a little more educated. I will be posting of the happenings here on occasion just to let you know what is going on because this is an important issue to those of us who wish to keep America the " land of the free". A taste of what you can read follows.

Restoring Our Constitution: Habeas-Corpse? Part 1

This is also true of our constitutional system.  We know where many of its pressure points are; for the peaceful good of our political culture, we agree not to push them too hard.  The radical Bush-Cheney Administration, of course, has made a point of pressing those sore spots as hard as it can.  Two such examples involve jurisdiction stripping and executive war powers.

Jurisdiction stripping.  It may surprise some people that the Constitution does not require any federal courts beyond the Supreme Court itself.  Article III, Section 1 states that "The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish."  The Supreme Court has a narrow original jurisdiction to hear cases, mostly involving conflicts between states; by far most of its jurisdiction is exercised to hear appeals from lower federal courts and, where federal law is involved, from state courts.  Section 2 states "In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make."

The emphasis above is mine -- and Bush-Cheney's.  If a federal right exists -- the right to abort a non-viable fetus is one example -- but Congress creates an exception to the jurisdiction of the federal courts to adjudicate claims based upon it and enforce that right, then it is as if that right does not exist.  Preventing the courts from hearing the cases they would need to hear to enforce rights is called "jurisdiction stripping".          For more go HERE

 

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