Monday, October 23, 2006

A Point to Ponder

Attorney General Gonzales is quoted on the website of the Whitehouse, regarding the Military Commissions Act of 2006, as saying, "I want to make one thing clear: The Military Commissions Act does not apply to American citizens. The military commissions established under the Act may try only alien unlawful enemy combatants, and the new law does not restrict the rights of United States citizens to file writs of habeas corpus in federal court."

In 1978 the Temporary Emergency Court of Appeals proclaimed that they could "find no basis in constitutional history, judicial interpretation, political history, legal scholarship, or persuasive argument to conclude that...a right ['to trust the federal government and to rely on the integrity of its pronouncements'] exists under...any...provision of the Constitution". Mapco Inc. v. Carter, 573 F.2d 1268, 1278 (Temporary Emergency Ct. App.)

So in light of the ruling, quoted above, by the Temporary Emergency Court of Appeals (which has never been overturned by the US Supreme Court), why should I believe Mr. Gonzales' statement that I have not lost my right to Habeas Corpus in the federal courts?

No comments: