Habeas Corpus Quotes:

As the nation-state has monopolized habeas corpus … on balance we have far more people in prison, federal and state, than ever.

- Anthony Gregory

topic: People, Balance, Habeas Corpus, Corpus

In violation of the Habeas Corpus Act and the fundamental laws of our constitution these men have never been brought to trail or even allowed to see a lawyer.

- John Amery

source: John Amery (2007). “John Amery Speaks, &: England and Europe”

topic: Men, Law, Habeas Corpus, Corpus

Now I don't know why he's denying them habeas corpus. I can only assume the guys they got detained over there did something really unforgivable. Like remind Obama he was once a professor of Constitutional Law.

- Stephen Colbert

topic: Law, Guy, Habeas Corpus, Constitutional Law, Corpus

If the federal constitution is to be construed so far in connection with the state constitutions, as to leave the trial by jury in civil causes, for instance, secured; on the same principles it would have left the trial by jury in criminal causes, the benefits of the writ of habeas corpus, etc. secured; they all stand on the same footing; they are the common rights of Americans, and have been recognized by the state constitutions.

- Richard Henry Lee

source: "Letters from the Federal farmer to the Republican".

topic: Rights, Habeas Corpus, Causes, Corpus, Trial By Jury

The habeas corpus business, that's to show that he [Bill Clinton] is not tough on crime.

- Nat Hentoff

source: Source: thedailyhatch.org

topic: Bills, Habeas Corpus, Tough, Corpus

Why are we proud? We are proud, first of all, because from the beginning of this Nation, a man can walk upright, no matter who he is, or who she is. He can walk upright and meet his friend--or his enemy; and he does not fear that because that enemy may be in a position of great power that he can be suddenly thrown in jail to rot there without charges and with no recourse to justice. We have the habeas corpus act, and we respect it.

- Dwight D. Eisenhower

topic: Men, Jail, Justice, Habeas Corpus, Corpus

The Constitution of most of our states (and of the United States) assert that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed and that they are entitled to freedom of person, freedom of religion, freedom of property, and freedom of press.

- Thomas Jefferson

topic: Exercise, People, May, Jury, Habeas Corpus

The Habeas Corpus secures every man here, alien or citizen, against everything which is not law, whatever shape it may assume.

- Thomas Jefferson

source: Thomas Jefferson (1854). “The writings of Thomas Jefferson: being his autobiography, correspondence, reports, messages, addresses, and other writings, official and private”, p.257

topic: Men, Law, Civil Rights, Habeas Corpus

The real test of one's belief in the doctrine of Habeas Corpus is not when one demands its application on behalf of one's friends but of one's enemies.

- Clement Attlee

topic: Real, Enemy, Tests, Habeas Corpus, Corpus

Trial by jury is part of that bright constellation which has gone before us and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation.

- Thomas Jefferson

topic: Age, Gone, Trials, Habeas Corpus, Trial By Jury

Americans think their danger is terrorists. They don't understand the terrorists cannot take away habeas corpus, the Bill of Rights, the Constitution.... The terrorists are not anything like the threat we face from our own government in the name of fighting terrorism.... The American constitutional system is near to being overthrown

- Paul Craig Roberts

topic: Fighting, Thinking, Rights, Habeas Corpus, Fighting Terrorism

People can be committed to a mental institution only after judicial hearing, but people are committed to schools beyond the reach of Habeas Corpus.

- Martin Mayer

source: Martin Mayer (1963). “Where, When, and why: Social Studies in American Schools”, New York : Harper & Row

topic: School, People, Hearing, Habeas Corpus, Corpus

If a passion for freedom is not in vogue, patriots may sound the alarm till they are weary. The Act of Habeas Corpus, by which prisoners may insist on being brought to trial within a limited time, is the corner stone of our liberty.

- Horace Walpole

topic: Passion, Liberty, Alarms, Limited Time, Habeas Corpus

Why suspend the habeas corpus in insurrections and rebellions? Examine the history of England. See how few of the cases of the suspension of the habeas corpus law have been worthy of that suspension. They have been either real treasons, wherein the parties might as well have been charged at once, or sham plots, where it was shameful they should ever have been suspected. Yet for the few cases wherein the suspension of the habeas corpus has done real good, that operation is now become habitual and the minds of the nation almost prepared to live under its constant suspension.

- Thomas Jefferson

topic: Real, Party, Law, Insurrection, Habeas Corpus

Of the liberty of conscience in matters of religious faith, of speech and of the press; of the trial by jury of the vicinage in civil and criminal cases; of the benefit of the writ of habeas corpus; of the right to keep and bear arms.... If these rights are well defined, and secured against encroachment, it is impossible that government should ever degenerate into tyranny.

- James Monroe

topic: Religious, Rights, Government, Habeas Corpus, Corpus

We must never cease to proclaim in fearless tones the great principles of freedom and the rights of man which are the joint inheritance of the English-speaking world and which through Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights, the Habeas Corpus, trial by jury, and the English common law find their most famous expression in the American Declaration of Independence.

- Winston Churchill

topic: Men, Rights, Expression, Iron Curtain, Habeas Corpus

In our country, [habeas corpus ] means that if you've been sentenced and convicted in a state court, either to death or to some other kind of sentence, you have the right to petition a federal court to review what happened to you. And until [Bill] Clinton, you had three, four, five, even more years I collect records of people who have been on death row for eight, 10, 12, 14 years - this is before Clinton - who finally got a decent lawyer, usually a pro bono lawyer, and an investigator, and were able to find out - they - they're but approved that they're - that they were innocent.

- Nat Hentoff

source: Source: thedailyhatch.org

topic: Country, Mean, Eight, Habeas Corpus, Corpus

"It astonishes me to find... [that so many] of our countrymen... should be contented to live under a system which leaves to their governors the power of taking from them the trial by jury in civil cases, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of commerce, the habeas corpus laws, and of yoking them with a standing army. This is a degeneracy in the principles of liberty... which I [would not have expected for at least] four centuries."

- Thomas Jefferson

topic: Army, Law, Liberty, Freedom Of The Press, Habeas Corpus

We are so considerate of the minute constitutional rights and even of the political feelings and influence of people whom we have every reason to anticipate with preventive action!... The Japanese in California should be under armed guard to the last man and woman and to hell with habeas corpus until the danger is over...

- Westbrook Pegler

topic: Men, California, Rights, Habeas Corpus, Constitutional Rights

By a declaration of rights, I mean one which shall stipulate freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of commerce against monopolies, trial by juries in all cases, no suspensions of the habeas corpus, no standing armies. These are fetters against doing evil which no honest government should decline.

- Thomas Jefferson

topic: Mean, Army, Government, Habeas Corpus, Fetters

There is also the issue of personal privacy when it comes the executive power. Throughout our nation's history, whether it was habeas corpus during the Civil War, Alien and Sedition Acts in World War I, or Japanese internment camps in World War II, presidents have gone too far.

- Dick Durbin

source: U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Judge Samuel Alito's Nomination to the Supreme Court, www.washingtonpost.com. January 9, 2006.

topic: Internment, Internment Camps, Habeas Corpus, Personal Privacy, During The Civil War

When John Adams - when - James Madison was writing - pretty much writing the Constitution, he got a letter from Thomas Jefferson, who was then-ambassador to France. And Jefferson said - I am paraphrasing - `Do not forget to keep habeas corpus and strengthen it.' That - in - that's the oldest English-speaking right. It goes back to the Magna Carta in 1215.

- Nat Hentoff

source: Source: thedailyhatch.org

topic: Writing, Letters, Ambassadors, Habeas Corpus, Magna Carta

The benefits of the constitution and laws are alike for all; and the great Elohim has given me the privilege of having the benefits of the constitution and the writ of habeas corpus.

- Joseph Smith, Jr.

topic: Freedom, Law, America, Habeas Corpus, Corpus

I will now add what I do not like. First, the omission of a bill of rights providing clearly and without the aid of sophisms for freedom of religion, freedom of the press, protection against standing armies, restriction against monopolies, the eternal and unremitting force of the habeas corpus laws, and trials by jury in all matters of fact triable by the laws of the land and not by the law of nations.

- Thomas Jefferson

source: Thomas Jefferson (1977). “The Portable Thomas Jefferson”, p.337, Penguin

topic: Army, Omission, Rights, Habeas Corpus, Corpus

One thing that does seem to me to be fairly consistent is that presidents who restrict civil liberties, even in wartime, are usually judged harshly for it. So most people agree that one of the worst stains on the reputation of FDR, who is widely considered a great president, is the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Likewise, Lincoln is judged harshly for the suspension of habeas corpus.

- David Greenberg

source: "Making Presidential History". The Washington Post Live Q&As, www.slate.com. August 9, 2007.

topic: War, People, President, Wartime, Internment

The liberty of the press, trial by jury, the Habeas Corpus Writ, even Magna Carta itself, although justly deemed the paladia of freedom, are all inferior considerations, when compared with the general distribution of real property among every class of people.

- Noah Webster

topic: Real, Class, People, Habeas Corpus, Magna Carta