Saturday, February 05, 2011

Habeas Corpus v. Make me


"Despotic King John signed the Magna Carta in 1215" says the display at the National Archives. If despotic King John abandoned his right to send commoners to the tower, doesn't that make our president more despotic than King John? Yes, it does.
Our constitution does not allow the legislature to condemn free men (no bills of attainder). The 4th amendment prevents the executive from doing the same.
If they are not prisoners of war, then they are just prisoners.

1 comment:

Benjamin Ady said...

I see you are using the word "prevents" loosely.