The Writ of Habeas Corpus is a foundation of civil liberties. It existed in British common law for many centuries. Later it was enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. It is a main bulwark against tyrants.
Habeas corpus is Latin for “you have the body.” It’s an order from a judge to a jailor demanding the jailor to justify the detention of a person. If the jailor can’t persuade the judge that there is such right, then the judge will order the person to be released, and the jailor must comply.
The Great Writ as it is also called has been suspended once in U.S. history by Republican president Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War, although it has always been controversial whether he had legal power to do that. It was done for national security reasons, especially to counter the large number of Copperheads (Confederate sympathizers) in Maryland to the north of Washington, D.C.
Today the federal court in New York City issued a Writ of Habeas Corpus on an emergency petition by the ACLU. The judge pronounced a national stay on Trump’s latest abomination of an executive order, as detailed in a front page post by Meteor Blades.
I predict that Trump is going to suspend Habeas Corpus within the week, maybe even tonight or tomorrow. He will say he is following in the footsteps of Lincoln. He will say that the suspension is temporary; it will only last as long as the War on Terror continues. This was probably the goal of the executive order all along.
If that happens, any law enforcement officer at any level can lock anybody up for an indefinite period for any reason or no reason at all, and cannot be forced to justify the detention or be held accountable for abuse.
Welcome to the Fascist States of America.