On behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union, we write to urge you to protect the Great Writ of Habeas Corpus by vetoing the anti-terrorism legislation currently being considered by Congress.

Congress has not given you the bill you wanted; now they have given you something else you don’t want — provisions that do nothing to stop the threat of terrorism and everything to destroy a bedrock feature of the American justice system — the writ of habeas corpus. Alexander Hamilton described habeas corpus as the greatest liberty of all, which the Constitution, through the Suspension Clause, “provided for in the most ample manner.”

The legislation before you would strip the federal courts of their authority and responsibility to enforce the Bill of Rights — not just in death penalty cases, but in all criminal cases. Responsibility for defining the very meaning of the Constitution would be given over to the states via a provision that would require Federal judges to defer to state court decisions on Constitutional claims — even if those state decisions are wrong.

This is an agenda that has everything to do with weakening civil rights and nothing do with combatting terrorism. Congress, eager to strip the federal judiciary of its historic role in the protection of Constitutional rights, is using the momentum of your anti-terrorism initiative as the vehicle for achieving this fundamental change in our legal system.

As the one-year anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing approaches, we know that there is enormous pressure to see a bill passed. But this bill is no memorial to the victims of the bombing — rather, it compromises fairness for all Americans, without providing any protection against what happened in Oklahoma City. Surely you must know this, Mr. President. The anti-terrorism bill is being used to extort your support for an agenda we know you oppose.

The Great Writ of habeas corpus has survived persistent attacks from the three last Republican Administrations; we ask that you not allow the fundamental right of habeas to be crippled during your Administration.

As the late Justice Thurgood Marshall observed, “when we allow fundamental freedoms to be sacrificed in the name of real or perceived emergency, we invariably regret it.”

The anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing will live in memory as a day of loss and mourning. We urge you, Mr. President, not to make April 19 the anniversary of another great tragedy — the loss of basic constitutional rights for all Americans.

Justice Marshall also wrote: “History teaches that grave threats to liberty often come in times of urgency, when constitutional rights seem too extravagant to endure.” The need to uphold constitutional rights even — indeed, especially — in times of crisis has been repeatedly reaffirmed by Justices across the ideological spectrum. Most recently, for example, last June, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor echoed Justice Marshall’s sentiments: “It cannot be too often stated that the greatest threats our constitutional freedoms come in times of crisis.”

The Great Writ must endure, if we are to endure as a free nation. Please do not allow a law that cripples habeas to be your legacy, Mr. President.

Sincerely,

Ira Glasser
Executive Director