Habeas Corpus Quotes

• In violation of the Habeas Corpus Act and the fundamental laws of our constitution these men have never been brought to trail or even allowed to see a lawyer.

  John Amery

  Men, Law, Constitution

  John Amery (2007). “John Amery Speaks, &: England and Europe”

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• Why are we proud? We are proud, first of all, because from the beginning of this Nation, a man can walk upright, no matter who he is, or who she is. He can walk upright and meet his friend - or his enemy; and he does not fear that because that enemy may be in a position of great power that he can be suddenly thrown in jail to rot there without charges and with no recourse to justice. We have the habeas corpus act, and we respect it.

  Dwight D. Eisenhower

  Men, Jail, Justice

  "Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953".

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• Freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of person under protection of habeas corpus; and trial by juries impartially selected, these principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us, and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Freedom, Age, Trials

  First Inaugural Address, 4 Mar. 1801

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• The Habeas Corpus secures every man here, alien or citizen, against everything which is not law, whatever shape it may assume.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Men, Law, Civil Rights

  Thomas Jefferson (1854). “The writings of Thomas Jefferson: being his autobiography, correspondence, reports, messages, addresses, and other writings, official and private”, p.257

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• The real test of one's belief in the doctrine of Habeas Corpus is not when one demands its application on behalf of one's friends but of one's enemies.

  Clement Attlee

  Real, Enemy, Tests

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• Trial by jury is part of that bright constellation which has gone before us and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Age, Gone, Trials

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• Americans think their danger is terrorists. They don't understand the terrorists cannot take away habeas corpus, the Bill of Rights, the Constitution.... The terrorists are not anything like the threat we face from our own government in the name of fighting terrorism.... The American constitutional system is near to being overthrown

  Paul Craig Roberts

  Fighting, Thinking, Rights

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• People can be committed to a mental institution only after judicial hearing, but people are committed to schools beyond the reach of Habeas Corpus.

  Martin Mayer

  School, People, Hearing

  Martin Mayer (1963). “Where, When, and why: Social Studies in American Schools”, New York : Harper & Row

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• If a passion for freedom is not in vogue, patriots may sound the alarm till they are weary. The Act of Habeas Corpus, by which prisoners may insist on being brought to trial within a limited time, is the corner stone of our liberty.

  Horace Walpole

  Passion, Liberty, Trials

  Horace Walpole (1822). “Memoires of the Last Ten years of the Reign of George the Second”, p.286

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• Why suspend the habeas corpus in insurrections and rebellions? Examine the history of England. See how few of the cases of the suspension of the habeas corpus law have been worthy of that suspension. They have been either real treasons, wherein the parties might as well have been charged at once, or sham plots, where it was shameful they should ever have been suspected. Yet for the few cases wherein the suspension of the habeas corpus has done real good, that operation is now become habitual and the minds of the nation almost prepared to live under its constant suspension.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Real, Party, Government

  Thomas Jefferson (1829). “Memoirs, 2: Correspondence and Private Papers”, p.346

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• Of the liberty of conscience in matters of religious faith, of speech and of the press; of the trial by jury of the vicinage in civil and criminal cases; of the benefit of the writ of habeas corpus; of the right to keep and bear arms.... If these rights are well defined, and secured against encroachment, it is impossible that government should ever degenerate into tyranny.

  James Monroe

  Religious, Rights, Government

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• We must never cease to proclaim in fearless tones the great principles of freedom and the rights of man which are the joint inheritance of the English-speaking world and which through Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights, the Habeas Corpus, trial by jury, and the English common law find their most famous expression in the American Declaration of Independence.

  Winston Churchill

  Men, Rights, Expression

  The Sinews of Peace, delivered 5 March 1946 Westminster College, Fulton Missouri

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• In our country, [habeas corpus ] means that if you've been sentenced and convicted in a state court, either to death or to some other kind of sentence, you have the right to petition a federal court to review what happened to you. And until [Bill] Clinton, you had three, four, five, even more years I collect records of people who have been on death row for eight, 10, 12, 14 years - this is before Clinton - who finally got a decent lawyer, usually a pro bono lawyer, and an investigator, and were able to find out - they - they're but approved that they're - that they were innocent.

  Nat Hentoff

  Country, Mean, Eight

  Source: thedailyhatch.org

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• "It astonishes me to find... [that so many] of our countrymen... should be contented to live under a system which leaves to their governors the power of taking from them the trial by jury in civil cases, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of commerce, the habeas corpus laws, and of yoking them with a standing army. This is a degeneracy in the principles of liberty... which I [would not have expected for at least] four centuries."

  Thomas Jefferson

  Army, Law, Liberty

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• If the federal constitution is to be construed so far in connection with the state constitutions, as to leave the trial by jury in civil causes, for instance, secured; on the same principles it would have left the trial by jury in criminal causes, the benefits of the writ of habeas corpus, etc. secured; they all stand on the same footing; they are the common rights of Americans, and have been recognized by the state constitutions.

  Richard Henry Lee

  Rights, Causes, Criminals

  "Letters from the Federal farmer to the Republican".

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• We are so considerate of the minute constitutional rights and even of the political feelings and influence of people whom we have every reason to anticipate with preventive action!... The Japanese in California should be under armed guard to the last man and woman and to hell with habeas corpus until the danger is over.

  Westbrook Pegler

  Men, Rights, California

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• As the nation-state has monopolized habeas corpus … on balance we have far more people in prison, federal and state, than ever.

  Anthony Gregory

  People, Balance, Prison

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• By a declaration of rights, I mean one which shall stipulate freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of commerce against monopolies, trial by juries in all cases, no suspensions of the habeas corpus, no standing armies. These are fetters against doing evil which no honest government should decline.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Mean, Army, Rights

  Thomas Jefferson (2011). “Jefferson on Freedom: Wisdom, Advice, and Hints on Freedom, Democracy, and the American Way”, p.11, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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• There is also the issue of personal privacy when it comes the executive power. Throughout our nation's history, whether it was habeas corpus during the Civil War, Alien and Sedition Acts in World War I, or Japanese internment camps in World War II, presidents have gone too far.

  Dick Durbin

  War, Issues, President

  U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Judge Samuel Alito's Nomination to the Supreme Court, www.washingtonpost.com. January 9, 2006.

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• When John Adams - when - James Madison was writing - pretty much writing the Constitution, he got a letter from Thomas Jefferson, who was then-ambassador to France. And Jefferson said - I am paraphrasing - `Do not forget to keep habeas corpus and strengthen it.' That - in - that's the oldest English-speaking right. It goes back to the Magna Carta in 1215.

  Nat Hentoff

  Writing, Letters, Ambassadors

  Source: thedailyhatch.org

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• The habeas corpus business, that's to show that he [Bill Clinton] is not tough on crime.

  Nat Hentoff

  Bills, Tough, Crime

  Source: thedailyhatch.org

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• The benefits of the constitution and laws are alike for all; and the great Elohim has given me the privilege of having the benefits of the constitution and the writ of habeas corpus.

  Joseph Smith, Jr.

  Freedom, Law, America

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• Now I don't know why he's denying them habeas corpus. I can only assume the guys they got detained over there did something really unforgivable. Like remind Obama he was once a professor of Constitutional Law.

  Stephen Colbert

  Law, Guy, Assuming

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• I will now add what I do not like. First, the omission of a bill of rights providing clearly and without the aid of sophisms for freedom of religion, freedom of the press, protection against standing armies, restriction against monopolies, the eternal and unremitting force of the habeas corpus laws, and trials by jury in all matters of fact triable by the laws of the land and not by the law of nations.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Army, Omission, Rights

  Thomas Jefferson (1977). “The Portable Thomas Jefferson”, p.337, Penguin

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• One thing that does seem to me to be fairly consistent is that presidents who restrict civil liberties, even in wartime, are usually judged harshly for it. So most people agree that one of the worst stains on the reputation of FDR, who is widely considered a great president, is the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Likewise, Lincoln is judged harshly for the suspension of habeas corpus.

  David Greenberg

  War, People, President

  "Making Presidential History". The Washington Post Live Q&As, www.slate.com. August 9, 2007.

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