Happy Constitution Day! Celebrate by helping to restore Habeas Corpus

Listen to our friend, and long time ACLU member, Dave, on what Congress has done

You can do something to change this by calling

Sen. Feinstein
phone # (202) 224-3841
Sen. Boxer
phone # (202) 224-3553

Christy @ FDL:

The Senate will again take up the Habeas Restoration Act. Sens. Leahy and Dodd are asking for our help. While restoring the rule of law and voting to uphold the principles written into our nation’s constitution ought to be a given, it, unfortunately, has not been the last few years.

From the restorehabeas.org website:

The Habeas Corpus Restoration Act gives us a chance to reverse one of the Bush Administration’s many assaults on our civil liberties.

We all want to make America safe from terrorism, but becoming a nation that sanctions the unlawful detention of its own residents — detaining and jailing them without the chance to appear before a judge — does not make us safe. Instead, it violates a value that we have held dear for centuries — safeguarding our individual freedom before arbitrary state action.

She quotes a NY Times editorial

In 2006, acting in reckless haste before an election, 65 senators and 250 members of the House defied the Constitution, endangered the safety of American soldiers and hurt the nation’s global reputation by passing the Military Commissions Act. The law created a separate, substandard and clearly unconstitutional system of trial and punishment for foreigners. This week Congress has a chance to begin fixing that grievous mistake.

The Senate is expected to consider a measure that would reverse one of the worst aspects of the 2006 law — the suspension of the right of habeas corpus, the ancient principle that no governing power may lock people up without the chance for a hearing in a court of law.

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….

What can you do about it?

Christy again:

Let’s hit the phones this morning, people. The Habeas Restoration Act is being put forth again — by Sens. Leahy and Dodd, among others — and they are asking for our help. Please call your Senators this morning and tell them to support Amendment S. 2202 (same text as the Habeas Corpus Restoration Act (S.185) to the DOD Auth bill (HR 1585). You can call toll free here (H/T to Katymine):

1 (800) 828 - 0498
1 (800) 459 - 1887
1 (800) 614 - 2803
1 (866) 340 - 9281
1 (866) 338 - 1015
1 (877) 851 - 6437

Every single Senator needs to hear from their constituents today. Word is that Sen. Lindsey Graham has threatened to mount a filibuster of this bill — nice way to stand up for basic human rights, there, Huckleberry — so it is essential that your Senators hear from you today. Cloture has been filed on the Amendment — so we need 60 votes to move it forward. Here are some Senators that I’m hearing could use some extra persuasion today, because it looks like the vote on cloture is coming up as early as Wednesday (as in tomorrow):

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT)
Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE)
Sen. John Warner (R-VA)
Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE)
Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN)
Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID)
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)
Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME)
Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN)
Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH)
Sen. John Sununu (R-NH)
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA)
Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR)
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN)