Preview

POL 201 Week 5 Final Paper Civil Liberties, Habeas Corpus, and the War on Terror

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
36699 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
POL 201 Week 5 Final Paper Civil Liberties, Habeas Corpus, and the War on Terror
POL 201 Week 5 Final Paper Civil Liberties, Habeas Corpus, and the War on Terror http://homeworkmonster.com/downloads/pol-201-week-5-final-paper-civil-liberties-habeas-corpus-war-terror/ POL 201 Week 5 Final Paper Civil Liberties, Habeas Corpus, and the War on Terror
The final assignment for this course is a Final Paper. The purpose of the Final Paper is to give you an opportunity to apply much of what you have learned about American national government to an examination of civil liberties in the context of the war on terror. The Final Paper represents 20% of the overall course grade.
Soon after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the Bush administration developed a plan for holding and interrogating captured prisoners. They were sent to a prison inside a U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, on land leased from the government of Cuba. Since 2002, over 700 men have been detained at “GITMO.” Most have been released without charges or turned over to other governments. In 2011, Congress specifically prohibited the expenditure of funds to transfer GITMO prisoners to detention facilities in the continental United States, making it virtually impossible to try them in civilian courts. As of April 2012, 169 remained in detention at GITMO (Sutton, 2012).
An assumption made by the Bush administration in selecting this location was that it was beyond the jurisdiction of U.S. courts. The administration wanted to avoid any judicial oversight of how it handled detainees, characterized as “enemy combatants.” A possible legal challenge to indefinite detention with no formal charges or judicial proceedings might arise from the habeas corpus provision of the Constitution.
Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution states, “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.” Under this provision, persons detained by the government are entitled to a judicial hearing to determine if

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    An assumption made by the Bush administration in selecting this location was that it was beyond the jurisdiction of U.S. courts. The administration wanted to avoid any judicial oversight of how it handled detainees, characterized as “enemy combatants.” A possible legal challenge to indefinite detention with no formal charges or judicial proceedings might arise from the habeas corpus provision of the Constitution.…

    • 6132 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The practical application of the defence power in an age of terrorism is difficult to determine, as it is reliant upon a set of circumstances that can have a plethora of different interpretations from a range of variant perspectives. Unlike some other powers, the defence power is purposive and elastic; it waxes and wanes, and its application “depends upon the facts, and as those facts change so may its actual operation as a power”[1]. Recent developments, such as the Thomas case, have led some theorists to comment that “the elastic of the defence power has become stretched all out of proportion”[2]. In its present interpretation, the defence power is no longer simply fixed on an external aggressor. Instead, the enemy is disguised domestically. It no longer depends upon judicial notice, or requires an expression of proportionality “in a context where the fact of war or piece is important”[3]. However, the reasoning behind this breed of jurisprudence is hard to decipher. The balance between liberty and safety seems to be somewhat askew. In this essay, I will attempt to argue that the defence power is, at least in its present reincarnation, excessively aggressive and at odds with other constitutional guarantors to freedom of speech.…

    • 2092 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Fallon Jr., R. H. (2010). THE SUPREME COURT, HABEAS CORPUS, AND THE WAR ON TERROR: AN ESSAY ON LAW AND POLITICAL SCIENCE. Columbia Law Review, 110(2), 352-398.…

    • 1990 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    John Ashcroft sees two broad areas of civil liberties as particular weaknesses waiting to be exploited by terrorists, free press and due process rights. He described a seized al Qaeda training manual where "terrorists are told how to use America's freedom as a weapon against us. They are instructed to use the benefits of a free press, newspapers, magazines and broadcasts, to stalk and kill their victims. They are instructed to exploit our judicial process for the success of their operations" (U.S. Senate 2001). The logic is clear: to foil the terrorist plot, the administration must enact antiterrorism measures that ensure greater governmental control of information, fewer procedural protections for people linked to terrorism (as either suspects or material witnesses), and enhanced government surveillance.…

    • 422 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    POL 201 Final Paper

    • 1580 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In this paper I will be deliberate on the history of Habeas Corpus and how it has matured over the years. I will describe the beginning of the Habeas Corpus and the position it takes part in the U.S. and what recent act is being used. The United States Constitution must be more effectively unified into the Guantanamo methods to give equal civil rights to inmates despite what their nationality maybe, but to also have more cordial ways of reviewing obstructive servicemen to absolutely verify if they really should be treated as extremists that we should fear.…

    • 1580 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Habeas corpus is located in the United States Constitution in Article One, Section Nine, under congress limits. It says, “The privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in case of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it”. (Columbia electronic encyclopedia, 2011) Habeas corpus is Latin for “you should have the body”. (Columbia electronic encyclopedia, 2011) It means that the accused most appear in front of a judge and know the charges haled against him or her.…

    • 1387 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    This paper will prove that civil liberties, in America, during times of war, should not be suspended. This paper will prove this point by discussing the impact of the Japanese internment camps in the 1940’s, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and more contemporary examples such as the Patriot Act that occurred after the 9/11 attacks. However, the main case examined will be the Japanese internment camps.…

    • 4012 Words
    • 17 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Have you ever felt like a piece of cheese on a mouse trap just waiting for that mouse to come by and eat you; maybe even a fly stuck in a spider’s web hoping that you can get away? Well I am sure if I had been one of those people in the mist of the chaos on September 11, 2001 that had changed the life of all Americans’ across the country. I would have felt no bigger than that piece of cheese or that fly caught in the web. We were victims of a horrific terrorist attack that shook the very core of our foundation as a country. Twelve years later we are still recovering from this horrendous act. We have been fighting the war on terror for ten years. This is one of the longest wars that the United States has ever fought. While the war rages on the boundaries between national security and civil liberties are blurred. “The big threat to America is the way we react to terrorism by throwing away what everybody values about our country—a commitment to human rights” (Kennedy, 2007). Individual liberties and freedoms are important since without them one can be held indefinitely. Habeas corpus does not infringe upon a person’s civil liberties. In addition, habeas corpus allows an individual to question why they are being detained and ensures that detainees have a right to a fair trial; it is considered to be one of the foundations of constitutional democracy.…

    • 2236 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    4. The War and the Writ Habeas corpus and security in an age of terrorism…

    • 1666 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    One of the most debated current events that have had a hold on America and the world are the prisons of Guantanamo Bay. Since the opening of the prisons there have been reported stories of torture on prisoners, inmates being force fed and due process rights being taken away. In this essay, we will examine Guantanamo Bay from the beginnings, to the legal issues by reviewing landmark Supreme Court cases, to the world wide opinions and finally the future of GITMO. After much research, we will review how I came to my belief, that the holding of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay is unconstitutional and that the torture must be stopped immediately.…

    • 3613 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Guantánamo Bay repression camp, moreover called Gitmo, Guantánamo Bay confinement camp [Credit: Kathleen T. Rhem/U.S. Division of Defense]U.S. imprisonment office on the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base, arranged on the bank of Guantánamo Bay in southeastern Cuba. Created in stages starting in 2002, the Guantánamo Bay confinement camp (every now and again called Gitmo, which is in like manner a name for the oceanic base) was used to house Muslim aggressors and suspected terrorists got by U.S. powers in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere (see also Iraq War). The workplace transformed into the focal point of general conflict over asserted encroachment of the legal benefits of detainees under the Geneva Conventions and claims of torment or severe treatment…

    • 739 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Civil Liberties History

    • 2698 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Habeas corpus and the war on terror have only grown increasingly relevant as days pass. One of the more well-known uses of habeas corpus stems from the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States. It was on the wake of this historical tragedy that President Bush not only launched a war on terrorism, but the USA PATRIOIT Act of 2001 was passed. As a wartime measure, the PATRIOT Act allowed federal authorities to arrest and hold suspected terrorists without filing formal charges. Individuals detained on suspicion of terrorism were not entitled to an attorney (Levin-Waldman, 2012). In Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, 542 U.S. 507 (2004), the Supreme Court ruled the prisoners had limited rights at his or her disposal with which to challenge the enemy combatant characterization (Foley, 2007). The debate over habeas corpus has erupted in an emotional time of healing for United States citizens. What is difficult to grasp is that in the midst of tragedy, in the center of emotional turmoil, in the middle of a nation full of questions, habeas corpus is a civil liberty, like many others that desperately required clarification in a changing…

    • 2698 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Better Essays

    A fifteen year old kid who was alleged to have thrown a grenade killing an American soldier was brought to Guantanamo Bay and was detained there until last year. Omar Khadr was held at Guantanamo Bay and during 2008 he applied to the federal court for judicial review of the governments decision to not seek his repatriation. He claimed that his s. 7 and rights were infringed. “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.” The court found Khadr’s s. 7 rights breached as a result of the “frequent flyer program”. Khadr was not given any immediate counsel at the time of his arrest, breaching s. 10(b) of The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.“Everyone has the right on arrest or detention to retain and instruct counsel without delay and to be informed of that right.” Like many other detainees at Guantanamo Bay Khadr’s right to habeas corpus was infringed, which is s. 10(c) of the charter. “Everyone has the right on arrest or detention to have the validity of the detention determined by way of habeas corpus and to be released if the detention is not lawful.” Lastly, Khadr was brought to Guantanamo Bay during year 2002 and was not tried for murder until year 2007, which breaches his s. 11(b) rights. “Any persons charged with an offence has the right to be tried within a reasonable…

    • 796 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Guantanamo Bay

    • 616 Words
    • 3 Pages

    As part of the United States judicial system, Guantanamo Bay detention center was formed under the Bush administration, in result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Guantanamo Bay is a detainment facility that the United States designed to detain terrorists, and enemies caught during war. The facility also is used for the U.S. to interrogate criminals, and terrorists with military tactics. This detainment facility is located on a United States naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The foundation of this center, and others like it provides a sense of homeland security for the Americans, and other surrounding countries.…

    • 616 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Guantanamo Bay was first discovered in 1494, by Christopher Columbus. Christopher sailed here on an attempt to locate gold. Although no gold was found the discovering of the protected bay opened as a safe haven for pirates and British navy alike in the years that followed (Packard 1). On June 10, 1898, U. S marines landed on the bay during the Spanish- American war this gave U. S control over the bay (“ Notes On” 1). The first use of the bay was in November 1991, when the Naval Base started being used as a prison (“ Notes On” 1). When a terrorist attack occurred on September 11, 2001, President Bush, along with his attorney general sought to use Guantanamo as a place where they could send prisoners captured in…

    • 1191 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays