Do Americans know how their system of government is supposed to work?
There has been much concern this week about comments made by senior White House advisor Stephen Miller that the administration is looking for ways to suspend habeas corpus in their efforts to deport migrants in the country illegally. Miller told reporters:
The Constitution is clear — and that of course is the supreme law of the land — that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended in a time of invasion… So it’s an option that we’re actively looking at.
Habeas corpus refers to the right people have under the Constitution to have their day in court, in this case to challenge their detention and any state action that may result from the alleged reasons behind it, like deportation.
Miller has said that the courts will make the final decision. So far various judges who have weighed in have been skeptical about denying anyone, including non-citizens, a fair hearing. Over time, the Supreme Court has decided that immigrants should be able to make their case in a court of law, which is something that even conservative icon Justice Antonin Scalia once called “well-established.” If the executive branch can simply decide that non-citizens don’t merit legal protections because the country is deemed to be under attack when it is clearly not in any conventional sense of the term, how long will it take for citizens to be denied due process for similar reasons?
It is absurd on its face and we can only hope the courts will continue to find it as such.
Perhaps the most annoying thing Trump and his team are trying to do with this latest move is to take advantage of the limited understanding many Americans have of their own system of government, of constitutional democracy. This is made clear by a comment made by White House spokesperson Kush Desai who said that “Over 77 million Americans gave President Trump a resounding Election Day mandate to enforce our immigration laws and mass deport criminal illegal aliens.” Holding aside the actual size of the mandate, it doesn’t matter. Theoretically, 100 percent of the electorate could vote for a president and that president would still be constrained by the Constitution and how it is interpreted by they courts.
When Steven Miller calls judicial rulings opposed to the suspension of habeas corpus a “judicial coup,” he is willfully misunderstanding how the system is supposed to work and he knows it.
I know this is rudimentary stuff but it’s important. Trump is always trying to undermine this basic principle by claiming special circumstances that demand dictatorial action.
Special circumstances are always available to those corrupt enough to find them or create them. Take heed.
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