Mike Levin: “The law we passed last Congress stripped the Federal courts of jurisdiction to grant habeas corpus despite a…”

“The law we passed last Congress stripped the Federal courts of jurisdiction to grant habeas corpus despite a constitutional prohibition which says that habeas corpus may not be suspended except in cases of rebellion or invasion, neither of which is the state of affairs today. I want to make in this 2 minutes one essential point. The Specter-Leahy-Dodd amendment does not grant any individual the affirmative right to go to court. It does not grant a right of habeas corpus. It simply removes a legislative barrier to such action, restoring the law as it was before we enacted this provision in the last Congress, leaving it up to the courts--where it belongs and it always has been-- as to whether habeas corpus should be granted. When we debated this provision in the last Congress, we received a letter from three retired Judge Advocates General who urged us not to strip the courts of habeas corpus jurisdiction. That letter, signed by Admirals Hutson and Guter, and General Brahms, said the following: We urge you to oppose any further erosion of the proper authority of our courts and to reject any provision that would strip the courts of habeas jurisdiction. As Alexander Hamilton and James Madison emphasized in the Federalist Papers, the writ of habeas corpus embodies principles fundamental to our nation.…”