Pol 201 Week 5 Final Paper American National Government

 Civil Liberties, Habeas Corpus, and the War on Terror

Y. Owens

Pol. 201

Teresa Knox

February 8, 2014

Civil Liberties, Habeas Corpus, and the War on Terror

In 1787, the founding father addressed the writ of habeas corpus in the Constitution as an essential legal foundation in the United States. The writ of habeas corpus means “You have the body,” which is utilize to safeguard the civil liberties of prisoners or detainees by allowing the accused to go before the court to determine if the person's imprisonment or detention is lawful.  The writ of habeas corpus originated from England’s legal common law traditions. It was established in England to limit the disproportion amount of power the government had over its citizens and help reduce governmental abuse. An English citizen being held in prison was permitted to file a request asking for a writ that would require their captor to provide sufficient justification for their detention. If the captor failed to show cause, the court would order the prisoner’s release. In United States, the writ of habeas corpus was enacted by the founding father to support the separation of powers and help protect the rights of any citizens endangered with illegal imprisonment or detention. In 1789 Congress was sanctioned by the First Judiciary Act, to permit federal courts to grant habeas corpus relief to federal prisoners. In addition, the writ allows federal courts legal authority to require other governmental bodies to bring accused prisoners or detainees to court or face contempt of court if the prisoners or detainees are not produced accordingly. In present day, habeas corpus is primarily employed as a solution for convicted prisoners that want to contest the legitimacy of the judicial proceedings used by the state or federal government that caused their detention. The intention of this paper is to examine the historical and current President’s executive wartime powers when acting as Commander-in-Chief, and the...