News Release

June 20, 2002

Bush And Ashcroft Assail Habeas Corpus, Scholar Says

WASHINGTON--Yesterday, the Bush administration asserted sweeping new police powers over the American people. In a legal brief filed with a federal appellate court, the Department of Justice asserted that Yaser Esam Hamdi, who is an American citizen, can be held incommunicado on a military installation as an "enemy combatant." A lower court ruled that Hamdi should have access to an attorney, and the Justice Dept appealed that ruling to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Timothy Lynch, director of the Cato Institute's Project on Criminal Justice had the following comments on the issue:

"The implications of the federal government's brief go far beyond the Hamdi matter. The Bush administration has now asserted that (a) citizens can be taken into custody as enemy combatants; (b) that, beyond such battlefield detainees, citizens can also be taken off the streets of any American town; and (c) that civilian courts cannot intervene to inquire into the legality of such arrests and detentions. When these propositions are taken together as a whole, the implications are very disturbing.

"The bottom line is that President Bush and Attorney General Ashcroft are attempting to suspend the 'Great Writ' of habeas corpus, which allows Americans to get into a court of law to challenge the legality of their arrest and to have their liberty restored if the court agrees that the arrest was unlawful. Without judicial review, the police can arrest people without warrants and jail people without trials.

"The controversial 'military order' that Bush issued last November has, in effect, now been extended to American citizens--and the writ of habeas corpus is now under assault. President Bush seems to believe that his commander-in-chief power gives him the authority to ignore every other part of the Constitution when he deems it necessary. The president is profoundly mistaken about that -- and the judiciary should resist this power grab."

Lynch is the author of the new Cato Institute report, "Breaking the Vicious Cycle: Preserving Our Liberties While Fighting Terrorism."