The protection from arbitrary arrest, embedded in the Magna Carta and in the Constitution of the United States, is one of the most powerful weapons against tyranny in democracy’s arsenal. Before President Bush, only one American president suspended habeas corpus — Abraham Lincoln, during the Civil War — and the Supreme Court duly struck down that arrogation of power.
In 2004, the Supreme Court again affirmed habeas corpus, declaring that Mr. Bush had no right to revoke the rules of civilized justice at his whim for hundreds of foreigners he declared “illegal enemy combatants.” But Mr. Bush was determined to avoid judicial scrutiny of the extralegal system of prisons he created after the Sept. 11 attacks. With the help of his allies on Capitol Hill, he railroaded the habeas corpus suspension through the Republican-controlled Congress.
The administration’s disinformation machine portrayed the debate as a fight between tough-minded conservatives who wanted to defeat terrorism and addled liberals who would coddle the worst kinds of criminals. It was nothing of the kind.
There is nothing conservative about expressing contempt for the Constitution by denying judicial procedure to prisoners who happen not to be Americans.
Restoration of habeas corpus comes before Congress this week. The dreadful Military Commissions Act is up for reconsideration. This was more than a serious blot on the Bush presidency (how can he even think about "legacy"?) The Republican Party, then in control of Congress, carries the burden of shame, too. For a long time into the future, voters will be looking at Republicans and thinking about more than the religious right, more than fiscal irresponsibility. They'll be wondering how their once respectable political party became so closely associated with an attempt to destroy the Constitution.
