There’s been quite an uproar over recent comments on Habeas Corpus by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. As the San Francisco Chronicle reported:
“The Constitution doesn’t say every individual in the United States or every citizen is hereby granted or assured the right of habeas,” Gonzales told Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Jan. 17.
Gonzales acknowledged that the Constitution declares “habeas corpus shall not be suspended unless … in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.” But he insisted that “there is no express grant of habeas in the Constitution.”
Specter was incredulous, asking how the Constitution could bar the suspension of a right that didn’t exist — a right, he noted, that was first recognized in medieval England as a shield against the king’s power to dispatch troublesome subjects to royal dungeons.
Although you might wonder why this issue qualifies as a concern of the Tenth Amendment, it’s these statements by both Gonzales and Specter that warrant special attention. Their position, if formally adopted by the government, would change the entire structure and basis of the Constitution; from one which created a government of specifically limited powers to one that gives the government all powers not prohibited.
First, more from the Chronicle:
Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said this week that Gonzales stood by his remarks but was asserting only that the text of the Constitution does not guarantee habeas corpus.
The Constitution, contrary to what many people believe, does not give people rights to free speech, trial by jury, to be armed, or even habeas corpus. In fact, the Constitution does not give people any rights, whatsoever!
Instead of giving us rights, the Constitution simply acknowledges that our rights are natural and inherent, and seeks to prevent that enemy of the ages which has always sought to take away our rights: The Government.
Simply put, the Constitution is a limit on government power. Nothing more. Nothing less.
The founders knew what was so obvious from history, and what remains true today – that the greatest threats to our liberty always comes from our own government.
As the 10th Amendment states so clearly, if the Constitution doesn’t give a power to the federal government, it can’t do it. Period.
Much of what the federal government engages in on a day-to-day basis is in a direct violation of the Tenth Amendment. The statements by Gonzales, Specter, and Roehrkasse are all examples of how the feds have destroyed not only the Tenth Amendment, but the meaning and intent of the Constitution as a whole.
No, Mr. Gonzales, the Constitution does NOT say that every individual is guaranteed the right of habeas corpus! No, Mr. Specter, rights DO exist even if they’re not listed in the Constitution. No, Mr. Roehrkasse, the text of the Constitution does NOT guarantee habeas corpus – the text of the Constitution guarantees that YOU and your accomplices in the federal government cannot take that right away!
What the feds can do in regards to habeas corpus was written quite plainly in Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution,
“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.”
Nowhere else is Habeas Corpus even mentioned. Thus, since the federal government was not given the power to suspend habeas in any other situation, it can’t do it.
The Tenth Amendment has been repeatedly ignored and directly violated almost continuously since FDR and the New Deal showed it utter disregard in the Great Depression. When the Federal government takes on functions not specifically given to it in the Constitution, in direct violation of the Tenth Amendment, it’s only a matter of time before it starts taking away other rights.
Without a strict adherence to the Tenth Amendment, it’s only a matter of time before the government starts spying on us, opening our mail, creating “free speech zones”, telling us we can’t have guns, and more. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
It’s high-time for “We The People” to start demanding that the Feds start obeying this fundamental law. We are getting alarmingly close to having no rights at all – other than what the government, in its divine mercy, decides to grant us. This landslide must be stopped quickly, and the 10th Amendment is the rule to follow, or we’ll soon find ourselves in an overt dictatorship.