When President Bush had the full backing of a Republican Congress, which was like a full week ago, he was able to sign into a law a bunch of crazy laws, while suspending others that have been at the core of democracy for centuries.

One law that somehow was suspended with little outcry from ever lax American citizens like myself was habeus corpus. Not only is habeus corpus at the center of democracy, it is perhaps the most important concept of our legal system. It allows people who are arrested to face charges and defend themselves of those charges. Without it, the government can detain whoever it wants and hold them for however long they want, without having to give any explanation for why they are holding a person.

President Bush tried to convince people that it was essential that we suspend habeus corpus, because many possible terrorist detainees could not face charges without exposing American secrets, such as interrogation methods or even information used before making an arrest. This information could aid terrorists, the president claimed. The problem with this logic is that too many innocent people can get stuck with no way of ever declaring their innocence or even knowing why they were arrested. This has already happened, with several dozen Guantanemo Bay prisoners released because they were only there based on bad information or mistaken identity.

Now that the Democrats are back in power in Congress, we should expect to see a return of habeus corpus, and the restoration of a basic right that we've taken for granted for the past four or five centuries. Let's hope we don't take it for granted again, and maybe next time we'll fight when someone tries to take it away.
Daily Kos: Leahy to Seek to Restore Habeas Corpus Rights