You have the body

Most Americans don't speak Latin, read it, nor can they translate even a few words. Most Americans and our cousins from Great Britain can, however, tell you what the Latin words habeas Ccorpus mean. Well, maybe they cannot tell you the exact dictionary definition, but they know its purpose.

The actual definition is, as the title of this article saysm in Latin, "you have the body." From those simple words, English Common Law, and later the various governments here in the colonies all used a "writ of habeas corpus" as a basic right of free citizens. It was therefore not surprising that the United States Constitution made habeas corpus a considerable part of our government system regarding the rights of citizens.

The right of habeas corpus is simple.

Whenever a person is detained or otherwise incarcerated by any form of government, federal, state, or local, within a reasonable time that government must announce that they have the person in custody, and they must publish the charges against that person.

You have the body, and we want to know why you have the body. It is to free people one of our most important privileges.

For most of the 200 plus years that we have operated under our constitution, that right of habeas corpus has been supported by both the government and the people as inviolate. We just did not question it's logic or ever thought it would change. It was a basic tenant of our faith in our freedom as citizens. Now that freedom is being put to the test and the outcome of that test will have an impact forever after in our country.

One of the many changes we made in government policy since the attacks on the World Trade Center, was the abandonment of the rules of habeas corpus in certain circumstances.

The government has taken a position that in cases of national security they have the right to suspend habeas corpus.

I want to make it clear here and now in this article that I am not writing about the current war or other policies of the government. I know there is a tremendous division in the country right now over those issues.

That will settle itself out in the election booths the next few years. No I am concerned only with this current problem, whether the government has the right to suspend habeas corpus or not.

The argument for the right to suspend Habeas Corpus is compelling. The government says that in order to prevent terrorist actions, they must have the right to detain American citizens who are suspects in the war on terror.

The most notable use of this new policy was this Padilla fellow, who they held for more than two years without charging him. They said they were trying to obtain information from him that would prevent some future attacks.

In the end the government facing a likely reversal of the case by the federal courts did in fact charge the man with some crimes, and he will face those charges. I hope they throw the book at him and he never gets out of prison if he is found guilty. The key words there, however are book, and found guilty.

The book refers to the constitution and the laws we live under. I have no problem with charging and prosecuting citizens who break the laws. I have no problem in finding them guilty if it is done in a court of law. I have a problem if it is a branch of government other than the courts that is saying we have the right to imprison you without the courts.

Throughout history we have seen governments put people in custody and they were never heard from again. I am sure that those people in the government who want to suspend habeas corpus feel they are protecting America. They think of themselves as patriots. That is why it is so seductive an argument, one we must not allow ourselves to follow.

If we let the government detain people without habeas corpus how do we know they are doing so for a good reason? Do we know it because they say it is true and we are supposed to trust our leaders? I think you can see the danger of that policy.

No matter how bad a person you are, or how dangerous a person you are to our national safety, if you are a citizen you must have the rights of citizenship.

If you are the terrible person the government says you are, then let that be shown in a court of law where you can face 12 of your peers if necessary.

That's why we say it is government of the people. We don't let the government decide who is guilty or not just because they think they are, we make them prove it out in the open in front of the people.

We must never give up habeas corpus. If we let that happen, the next time we want to know where the body is and why they are being held, it just might be us.

The power to detain must not leave the people's hands, ever.