According to the new torture and detention bill that is about to be signed into law, my mother, who is not a citizen but has lived in this country for over thirty years, could be hauled away by the feds on trumped-up terrorism charges without any judicial recourse for challenging the legality of her detention. I’m using hyperbole to prove a point; this law is a dangerous encroachment on established principles of due process and fundamental fairness in our judicial system. The suspension of habeas corpus may sound like some obscure topic for a law school seminar, but it’s not called the Great Writ for nothing. Since feudal times, the right of habeas corpus has been one of the most effective safeguards against authoritarian abuses of power and unlawful detentions.
We are teetering on the edge of a precipice. Most of you who know me know that I’m not given to histrionics, but I genuinely fear for the future of our country. I’m deeply disappointed in our political leaders for passing such reactionary legislation. I’m deeply disappointed in our media for doing such a piss-poor job with explaining exactly how this law takes away so many long-cherished rights and creates two vastly unequal systems of criminal justice.
And I can’t help but thinking that things will continue to get much worse before they get better.
I seriously doubt that most people have given this a passing thought – and won’t – unless they get whacked – and then it will be too late.
Read this:
http://www.drhebert.squarespace.com/journal/
He says it well. Cheers, Susan