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</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>Dear Friend,<br><br>
Please write your representatives and the members of the House and Senate
Armed Services and Judiciary Committees to tell them to strip the
Graham-Levin Amendment from the Military Authorization Bill and preserve
the right to habeas corpus and judicial oversight. They will be
ironing out the differences in the Senate and House versions of the bill
tomorrow, Wednesday, December 7, 2005.
<a href="http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=60883766&url_num=2&url=http://www.demaction.org/dia/organizations/ccr/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=1654">
<b>PLEASE WRITE
</a>
<a href="http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=60883766&url_num=2&url=http://www.demaction.org/dia/organizations/ccr/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=1654">
NOW!</a><br><br>
</b>This will be the third action alert we’ve sent you about this
disastrous Amendment that would strip the courts of the right to hear
habeas corpus petitions from the detainees at Guantánamo. And we
may send a fourth. It’s difficult to make habeas corpus sound sexy,
but it is perhaps the most fundamental right we have and the basis for
our entire system of justice, dating back 800 years. Simply put,
it’s what keeps the government from being able to lock people up and
throw away the key. It guarantees the right to know the charges
against you and to challenge your detention in a court of law. It
is the basis of the separation of powers and the system of checks and
balances enshrined in our Constitution. <br><br>
If we do not stop the Graham Levin amendment now, what starts with
foreign detainees at Guantánamo will carry over to the rest of us and our
rights here at home. There is already additional legislation in committee
that seeks to curtail habeas rights for domestic criminal prisoners. In
addition, any ground gained by the McCain Amendment forbidding the use of
torture becomes meaningless if the detainees have no access to an
attorney and no way to protest their abuse in court.<br><br>
Last year the Supreme Court rejected the government's position that it
can maintain a law-free zone at the Guantánamo Naval Base. The
habeas corpus petitions on behalf of the men imprisoned in Guantánamo
seek the most basic relief: a fair hearing with due process in federal
court to challenge the factual and legal basis of their detention.
Our system of justice is founded upon the notion that the Executive may
not detain any individual without these fundamental protections. We
are asking you to write your representatives to demand that they not to
undo the work of the Supreme Court and that they uphold the rule of law
and reject the Graham-Levin Amendment to the Military Authorization
Bill.<br><br>
<b>You can also call your representatives through the US Capitol
Switchboard: 202-224-3121<br><br>
</b>Senator Graham offered his amendment in the Senate very late in this
session, and a vote was held with no hearings and very little
debate. After the vote, a firestorm of criticism forced Senator
Graham to accept a compromise--negotiated with Democratic Senator Carl
Levin--that allows captives very limited recourse to federal appeals
courts. But Republican Senator Arlen Specter, chair of the Senate
Judiciary Committee, described the compromise as "a sophisticated,
blatant attempt at court-stripping." <br>
<br>
The Bush Administration is now negotiating with Graham and others to make
the legislation even more restrictive. A Justice Department
spokesperson says Attorney General Gonzales has stated that he is
"particularly focused on thwarting some of the 160 habeas lawsuits
filed by Guantánamo detainees." Graham and the Bush
Administration oppose rights for the Guantanamo detainees in part because
they refuse to face the fact that innocent people have been caught up in
the system--a fact acknowledged by the military's own commanders at
Guantánamo. According to the Wall Street Journal: "American
commanders acknowledge that many prisoners shouldn't have been locked up
here in the first place because they weren't dangerous and didn't know
anything of value. 'Sometimes, we just didn't get the right folks,' says
Brig. Gen. Jay Hood, Guantánamo’s current commander."<br><br>
<b>Your voice is urgently needed to preserve habeas corpus -- the most
critical safeguard against torture and unchecked Executive
power.<br><br>
</b>Sincerely,<br>
Ron Daniels<br>
Executive Director, Center for Constitutional Rights<br><br>
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(415) 863-9977<br>
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