I recently had the privilege of being accompanied to a fund raising event for my campaign by California Representative Mike Honda. Congressman Honda was interned in an American gulag during World War Two because his family is of Japanese descent. While NPR listeners recently heard a sobering segment about Guantanamo Bay and the history of habeas corpus, I listened to Congressman Honda's reminder that it can happen right here on American soil.
Habeas corpus ("You have the body") is a "common law" cornerstone that restrains the ultimate power to imprison. The primary function of a writ of habeas corpus is to release a person from unlawful imprisonment, and bring them before a court or judge to determine if their rights of due process of law have been violated. It is precisely for situations such as Guantanamo and the World War Two internment camps that the principal of habeas corpus was developed. Habeas corpus has long been regarded as the greatest constitutional guarantee of personal liberty.
In its obsession with secrecy and executive privilege, the Bush Administration threatens this guarantee of personal liberty, as well as our rights at home and our reputation as a "beacon of freedom" abroad. As a lawyer and a veteran, I am concerned about the erosion of our Constitutional protections and the breakdown in the balance of power that our founders intended. I intend to restore integrity to our institutions and honor our agreements, including the Geneva Convention this Administration dismisses as "quaint."
Any choice between liberty and security is no choice at all. We CAN have both! For the safety of our soldiers, and the rights of our citizens, we need to honor the spirit of our laws and the foresight of our founders. I will never vote to support the Patriot Act in any form, or any extension thereof. The attacks on Pearl Harbor and the World Trade Center may have changed our foreign policy, but they don't change the Bill of Rights.
Bill Winter
http://winterforcongress.com/