Statement of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold On Habeas Corpus Restoration Act of 2007

http://www.commondreams.org/news2007/0607-04.htm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JUNE 7, 2007
10:52 AM


CONTACT: Senator Russ Feingold
Zach Lowe (202) 224-8657

Statement of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold
On Habeas Corpus Restoration Act of 2007
Senate Judiciary Committee Markup


WASHINGTON - JUNE 7 - Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to support the Habeas Corpus Restoration Act of 2007. It amends the deeply flawed Military Commissions Act of 2006 to restore the Great Writ of habeas corpus, ensuring that no person will be subject to indefinite detention without charge based on the President’s sole discretion.

Let me be clear: I strongly support efforts to bring terrorists to justice. This Administration has too long been distracted from that important task by the war in Iraq. Resetting our sights on pursuing global terrorist networks is long overdue. But whatever long-term counterterrorism strategy America pursues, it will be undermined if we fail to adhere to our longstanding American values.

Mr. Chairman, this bill is part of our counterterrorism efforts, because we cannot begin to make a dent in terrorist recruitment and plotting worldwide without sending a clear message that the United States will adhere to the principles that make our country great. Our faithful adherence to checks and balances, fundamental fairness, and the rule of law has been and always will be one of our greatest strengths.

Last year, the President agreed to consult with Congress on the makeup of military commissions only because he was compelled to do so by the Supreme Court in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. Congress should have taken that opportunity to pass legislation that would allow these trials to proceed in accordance with our laws and our values. Instead, we passed the Military Commissions Act, allowing the government to seize aliens on American soil or abroad, designate them “enemy combatants,” and, in one of the worst provisions of that bill, detain them indefinitely with no opportunity to challenge their detention in court.

It is time to start to undo the harm this legislation has caused.

This bill will ensure that detainees at Guantanamo Bay have the ability to challenge their detention in court. Habeas corpus is a fundamental recognition that in America, the government does not have the power to detain people indefinitely and arbitrarily. And that in America, the courts must have the power to review the legality of executive detention decisions. As a group of retired judges wrote to Congress last year, habeas corpus “safeguards the most hallowed judicial role in our constitutional democracy – ensuring that no man is imprisoned unlawfully.”

The Military Commissions Act fundamentally violated that historical and constitutional guarantee, putting detainees beyond the reach of the law

Mr. Chairman, this state of affairs is unacceptable, and it almost surely violates our Constitution. But that determination will take years of protracted litigation. The Supreme Court has declined to review the D.C. Circuit’s decision on this issue, at least for now, so it is all the more urgent that Congress act to resolve this issue. We should restore the right to habeas corpus now. We must make clear that our laws do not permit the government to detain people – including people on U.S. soil -- indefinitely without court review. This bill is an important first step in reasserting the primacy of American values in our law. The elimination of habeas corpus in the Military Commissions Act was a historic and tragic mistake. It is time we correct it, and I congratulate you, Mr. Chairman, and Senator Specter, for moving so quickly to take this important step.