Civil Liberties, Habeas Corpus, and the War on Terror

Civil Liberties, Habeas Corpus, and the War on Terror

Introduction

One of the key issues in the political involvement of the United States is the issue of Habeas Corpus. The issue is considered to be a corner stone by many of the Americans that highlight the check of a principal nature on the arbitrary powers of the government that will allow an arrested person to challenge his custody legality. It basically relates to an individual right and thus serves as a tool of politics as well as law. This essay is written with an objective to highlight the rights that are being given to an individual under the habeas corpus law along with its relation to the protection of the civil liberties law. The essay will also focus on the evolution of the act, the way it was suspended in the past and at the end my personal evaluation reflecting my ideas and philosophies about the topic of the essay.

Discussion

Habeas corpus is basically a Latin word having a literary meaning to more or less extent of 'have the body”. A summon that has given birth to the habeas corpus is the court demand that requires the governmental agency to provide with the proper grounds and evidence whenever they will produce a prisoner. The act is considered to be a Great Writ or summon because it provides the foundation to the countries of Common Law to protect the freedom of liberty that is a second freedom part mentioned in the United States independence Declaration in a most fundamental manner, providing a right to the prisoner of not to be imprisoned without any proper evidence or logic (Wert, 2011).

Habeas Corpus has been related to the other civil liberty laws in a manner that all of them are contained in the United States Constitution. The first amendment of the US constitution highlighted the rights of the free speech, religion and assembly, whereas the habeas corpus was mentioned in the U.S. Constitution Article 1 Section 9 guaranteeing the following points

The prisoner has the right to ask the government to justify the arrestment

The right of not to be proscribed without a trial

The right of freedom from all the laws that got approval and are passed after the fact

Historical evolution of Habeas Corpus

Habeas Corpus serves as a protection for the prisoner allowing him to ask for the constitutionally guaranteed rights. The concept has got its initial foundations from the law that was being proposed in England in the 17th century, during the time when the Catholics were being considered as unfaithful to the King Charles II throne. O the basis of their religious loyalties, Catholics was considered to be imprisoned. The first recorded usage of the habeas corpus rights were cited by Blackstone in the year 1305during the time period of the King Edward I rule. Habeas Corpus Act of 1679 was the first Coding Act that provided for the issuance of the right of the Corpus ...