"Restoring A Constitutional Right"

Senate Bill Would Restore Habeus Corpus to Detainees

Back on Capitol Hill, Senate Democrats have introduced a measure that would restore habeus corpus to all prisoners in US custody. Prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and other US facilities lost their right to challenge their detentions under the Military Commissions Act passed last year. The new Democratic measure is called the “Restoring the Constitution Act of 2007.” The bill would also limit the definition of an ‘enemy combatant’ to mean only those participating in direct hostilities against the US in a combat zone or who took part in the 9/11 attacks.


Source: Democracy Now, February 14, 2007

______________________________________

The whole problem with this approach is that, if a Constitutional Right is dependent on Congress *restoring* it, then Congress can at any time *repeal* it, and thus it's not a Constitutional Right but rather a mere privilege, a mere favor or trifle, granted by the legislative branch of government.

Instead, Congress should enact legislation making clear that Habeas was never taken away in the first place, leaving the US government wide open to a multitude of lawsuits. And, to the extent we still have a system of justice left in this country, the US should be sued--repeatedly until everyone's rights that have been violated have been vindicated, and their injuries properly compensated for.

TLC