William Marvel: Hail, Caesar

News that the Trump administration considered suspending habeas corpus left me with a vicarious sensation of déjà vu. That was one of the first actions Abraham Lincoln undertook at the outset of the Civil War, and it led to more instances of unjust confinement than were ever seen in the United States until the Nisei internments of WWII — unless one counts forcing Indian tribes onto reservations.

Habeas corpus, the process that requires authorities to promptly bring an accused citizen before a judge to test the legality of an arrest, came to us through English common law. So ancient and cherished a precaution was it against indefinite imprisonment that it is only mentioned in the Constitution once, in Article I, to prohibit its suspension "unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it." What person or body can suspend it is unspecified, but since Article I enumerates the rights and responsibility of Congress, logic suggests that the power is meant to lie there.