Habeas Corpus

Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” will add trillions to the deficit to give the ultra wealthy another tax break — rattling deficit hawks who have long warned that the U.S. is barreling toward fiscal catastrophe. Meanwhile, his Cabinet does not know what habeas corpus is! The constitutionally enshrined right of habeas corpus traces its origins back to the Magna Carta, and it guarantees that those detained by the US government can challenge that detention in court.

Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said that Trump is “actively looking at” suspending the writ of habeas corpus for suspected illegal immigrants.

Under the concept of habeas corpus in Anglo-American jurisprudence, persons who are deprived of their liberty have the right to challenge the legality of their arrest or detention through a judicial inquiry. Habeas corpus is a Latin phrase meaning “produce the body.” By means of the writ of habeas corpus a court may order the state to “produce the body,” or hand over a prisoner so that it might review the legality of the prisoner’s detention.