John Conyers: “this is a bill that is supposed to be dealing with terrorists. It is an antiterrorism bill. Mr. Chairman, habeas corpus…”

“this is a bill that is supposed to be dealing with terrorists. It is an antiterrorism bill. Mr. Chairman, habeas corpus got onto the antiterrorism bill in the following way. Everybody thought that this was a fast train that could take on anything that was hanging around the Committee on the Judiciary. As it turned out, antiterrorism is not a fast train to anywhere, because it is really a crime bill. Now it is a gutted antiterrorist bill. Now we have a gutted antiterrorist bill, and habeas corpus reform that we have been trying to get through, restricting constitutional rights, for years. It has never gotten anywhere. Mr. Chairman, it would not do for the ranking member on the Committee on the Judiciary to explain that again for maybe the 25th time in my career, but what about a former Attorney General named Ben Civiletti? What about the comments of a former Attorney General named Nicholas Katzenbach? What about of the comments of a former Attorney General named Edward H. Levy? What about the comments of an Attorney General, former Attorney General, named Elliott L. Richardson? Two Republicans, two Democratic former Attorneys General. Here is what they say: "The habeas corpus provisions which the House will soon take up are unconstitutional." They did not say that maybe they will be found unconstitutional, or that they could be challenged for unconstitutionality. They said "They are unconstitutional," four Attorneys General.…”