The Marri Case

[arisbe]

Until a few days ago, a foreigner named Ali S. Marri was scheduled to go to trial in federal district court later this month. A federal grand jury had indicted Marri for lying to the FBI soon after the September 11 attacks and for credit-card fraud.

In a move that many have predicted the administration would pull on Moussaoui because of the strong defense he was putting up in his case, President Bush signed a special order removing Marri from the jurisdiction of the federal district court and turning him over to military authorities in the Pentagon, where he is going to be denied a jury trial and other attributes of due process of law and also possibly be transferred to Guantanamo Bay, where he will be tried by secret military tribunal, denied independent counsel, denied an appeal to a higher court, and subject to being executed.

Unlike Padilla and Hamdi, however, who have not been permitted to speak with anyone outside the military, Marri already had an attorney representing him in the federal court proceeding. Thus, there was nothing the Justice Department could do to prevent that attorney from filing a petition for writ of habeas corpus on behalf of his client, which is exactly what he did this past Tuesday (July 8) in a federal district court in Illinois.

The Marri habeas corpus hearing might very well be the case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately decides whether the powers that are being wielded by Bush, the Justice Department, and the Pentagon are consistent with the Constitution.

--Crossing the Rubicon by Jacob G. Hornberger

The complete article demands your attention, and I urge you to follow the link in the previous line. The point here is not the Constitution of the United States, which permits the suspension of habeas corpus in time of war and rebellion, of which permission Mr. Lincoln notoriously availed himself. The point is the survival of the whole organic structure of ordered liberty of which the written Constitution is the fruit rather than the root.

Thanks to prester_scott for the link.

Comments

[vyoma.livejournal.com]

An absolutely excellent article. I wasn't at all aware of the Marri case until I read it. I'm going to place a link in my own journal as well. People need to know about this case as well as get the understanding of the threat to due process and the rule of law that the author makes so very clear.

Get the Word Out

[arisbe.livejournal.com]

And hope the Supreme Court does the right thing.

[canonfire.livejournal.com]

do you think that the administration will try to assert that Al-Qaeda has "invaded" the united states and, thus, gives warrant to suspend the writ?

Yes

[arisbe.livejournal.com]

After all, 9/11 was an act of war. I would agree that foreign terrorists are invaders and Americans who assist them are in rebellion.

The real question is whether the public safety requires the suspension, and who has the right to determine when it does.

The government may well be operating within the limits of the Constitution narrowly construed. (This is a thought I do not like.)

Perhaps the Constitution needs to be amended to require at least consent of the Senate to the suspension of the right, and a judicial ruling on each particular case.