On the recordJune 12, 2018
I appreciate my colleague's opinions, the Senator from South Carolina. I would like to respond for a moment and speak for a few minutes about a bipartisan compromise that I have introduced, along with the senior Senator from California, Mrs. Feinstein. The legislation I am referring to is called the Due Process Guarantee Act, which Senator Feinstein and I have introduced. It has also been offered up as an amendment to the legislation now before this body, to the National Defense Authorization Act. Alexander Hamilton, in his writing of Federalist No. 84, called arbitrary imprisonment one of the ``favorite and most formidable instruments'' of tyrants and with good reason. The Constitution includes safeguards against this form of tyranny, including the writ of habeas corpus and the guarantee that American citizens will not be ``deprived of life, liberty, or property'' by the government ``without due process of law.'' If you are going to take away people's life or liberty or property, you have to give them due process. You can't do it without that. That is by mandate of the Constitution. It is made applicable to the Federal Government through the Fifth Amendment, and it is made applicable to the States through the 14th Amendment. Our commitment to these rights has, of course, been tested in times of crisis. This is what happens to our rights when crises erupt. Sadly, tragically, I would add, we as Americans have not always passed these tests.…
