X-Powered-By: PHP/4.4.4-8 Content-type: text/html MJ O'Donnell
[CS Dept., U Chicago]
[my picture] He'll join calm node.
Inhaled Jello? C'mon!
[my ODBOL logo]




Habeas Corpus, foundation of liberty, is under attack.

"The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it." United States Constitution, Article One, Section Nine.

Habeas Corpus, although described by an esoteric sounding Latin phrase, is the crucial starting point for liberty under the law. It allows someone imprisoned by the government to demand that the government explain to a judge the reason for imprisonment. Without it, government may imprison a person and throw away the key, with no accountability whatsoever. President Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus during the civil war, which was a case of rebellion, was ruled unconstitutional, and is widely regarded as a blemish on his record. The current United States government has denied the privilege of habeas corpus at a time when there is no rebellion and no invasion of the US.

In 1861, rejecting President Lincoln's claim, the Supreme Court ruled that only Congress may suspend habeas corpus, and that a prisoner of the military must either be held subject to the rules and articles of war, or must be delivered immediately to civil authority.
Risks in computing
[Open Root-Server Confederation] "I am Spartacus"
[This page is best viewed with a mug of hot tea and ANY browser] [Web Interoperability Pledge]
Bloomberg School
of Public Health

2006 survey estimates
excess deaths
390,000 - 940,000

Find me at my job

Professor in Computer Science
and the College
Senior fellow in the Computation Institute
[U Chicago seal] The University of Chicago
Department of Computer Science
The University of Chicago
Ryerson Hall 1100 E. 58th St.
Chicago, IL 60637 USA


[phone icon] Phone: (773) 702-1269 [FAX icon] FAX: (773) 702-8487


[Email icon] Email: michael_odonnell@acm.org, odonnell@cs.uchicago.edu


[Calendar icon] Check my personal calendar to see when and where to find me.

My Roles

Scholar
Teacher Citizen
Dad
Consultant Computer Geek
Fun Guy

Valid HTML 4.0!


Last modified: Sun Feb 19 19:51:36 CST 2006