Legal Commentary

Obama Defends Habeas Corpus for Suspected Terrorists

By Jeralyn

At a campaign rally Monday night, Sen. Barack Obama explained his views on why we need habeas corpus for everyone, even those suspected of terrorism:

"Habeas corpus ... is the foundation of Anglo-American law, which says very simply, if the government grabs you, then you have the right to at least ask, `Why was I grabbed?' and say, `Maybe, you've got the wrong person.'

"The reason we have that safeguard is we don't always have the right person. We don't always catch the right person. "We may think this is Muhammad the terrorist. It might be Muhammad the cab driver. You may think it's Barack the bomb-thrower. But it might be Barack, the guy running for president."

As to Gov. Sarah Palin's "reading their rights" slam of him during her acceptance speech, he responded: [More...]

"First of all, you don't even get to read them their rights until you catch 'em," Obama said to a roar of applause. "They should spend more time trying to catch Osama bin Laden, and we should worry about the next steps later."

I would just add that even if we have the right guy, we still need habeas so detainees can challenge the conditions of their confinement, including, but not limited to torture.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on September 09, 2008 (boomark / email).