Did the President just kill Habeas Corpus?

If you blinked, you probably missed it, but President George W. Bush just suspended habeas corpus.

On Tuesday, he signed the Military Commissions Act of 2006. This bill authorizes “harsh interrogations of terror suspects” (e.g. waterboarding); while “no court, justice, or judge shall have jurisdiction to hear or consider an application for a writ of habeas corpus [for] an alien detained by the United States.” Thus, the detainee can not protest his imprisonment; nor can he look at or dispute the evidence that got him imprisoned in the first place.

In sum, if the US says that you’re an enemy combatant—or thinks that you might be—it can imprison you, torture you, ignore the Geneva Convention, and prevent you from pleading your innocence in a court of law. Oh, and let’s not forget that before all that happens, the US can also wiretap your phone without telling anyone. (you forgot, didn’t you?)

Now, it is true that this act was written and signed with current Guantanamo Bay detainees in mind; and it is also true that the MCA of 2006 suspends habeas corpus for “aliens.” So Mr. Joe American has nothing to worry about, right? Ha, yeah right. The government just suspended habeas corpus; if they say you’re an enemy, would they really care that you have a Social Security card? We certainly didn’t care about detaining Japanese-American citizens during WWII.

In the end, The Military Commissions Act sets a frightful precedent of suspending or ignoring longstanding rights and laws in the name of protecting the homeland.

Which law is next?

What also concerns me is that “the Supreme Court ruled in June that trying detainees in military tribunals violated U.S. and international law, so Bush urged Congress to change the law…” Just think about that: the Supreme Court said he couldn’t break the rules, so he had the rules changed.

I get the administration's stance: there is evil in the world that will go to any length to harm and kill Americans, and we must protect and defend ourselves. I agree with that statement; but while we’re trying to protect ourselves, let’s not ignore and trample on American laws and freedoms. If we do, what America are we protecting? George Orwell warned us of an all-powerful government that watches you, kidnaps you, imprisons you, and tells no one about it—that’s an America I’m sure no one wants. Yet, the administration seems to be constantly taking baby-steps in that direction.

Then again, I suppose if the terrorists hate us for our freedoms, and we give up those freedoms, they won’t hate us anymore, right?