A Blow to Habeas Corpus?
By Montag | Related entries in LegislationThis article posted on the Washington post website claims “…the so-called Streamlined Procedures Act of 2005 takes the evisceration of habeas review, particularly in capital cases, to a whole new level.”
Sounds pretty bad, but unfortunately, the bill (HR-3035, S-1088) would take hours of reading and research to fully understand; and lacks a “summary” statement. I guess regular folks aren’t meant to know what they are up to with this bill.
In any case, do we really want (or need) to make it easier to carry out the death penalty?
This entry was posted on Monday, July 11th, 2005 and is filed under Legislation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
July 12th, 2005 at 1:11 am
“Whole new level”? Worse than what Lincoln did to it? Which is the dquivalent of what supposedly was done to Qurans at Gitmo? (Along with writing out orders for the military arrest of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.) I doubt there’s a “new level” beyond that.
But somehow, we recovered. Odd how often that happens in history. At least Congress, unlike Lincoln, has the Constitutional right to monkey with the Great Writ.
And shouldn’t the WaPo be above “so-called”? If it’s not really called that, say so. If it is really called that, call it that. Do they really think their dwindling pool of readers is too dense to see through that, or not be offended at the crude bid to lead them around by rhetorical nose rings? Editorialize at that page in the back of the A section, please.
July 12th, 2005 at 8:19 am
You have evicerated the quote quite effectively. If we strike “so-called” and “a whole new level” and adjust for grammar, is this a true statement?
“[The] Streamlined Procedures Act of 2005 eviscerat[es] habeas review, particularly in capital cases.”
If it is true, should we not be concerned because throughout history we have recovered from infringements of this right?
At least Congress, unlike Lincoln, has the Constitutional right to monkey with the Great Writ.
They can’t just pass a law that’s unconstitutional without going through the amendment process. If this thing passes and if it is unconstitutional, it should be overturned by the SC. Although, it would seem better that it not reach that point.
(I read the piece as an editorial, even though it wasn’t labeled as such. I should have used more descriptive word than “article” to describe it in my introductory blurb. I’ll try to be more careful.)