Re: Skip the Congressional leaders ... but legally.
by
Rrhain
07/22/2008, 3:50 PM
What part of "emergency session" is so hard to understand?
Yes, the founders meant that only Congress has the right to suspend habeas corpus. That's why it's only mentioned as a power of Congress. Why? Because it's too important to suspend at the whim of a single person. That's the entire point behind separation of powers. That's why we have a president, not a king. That's why it's the only individual right mentioned in the main body of the Constitution...all the others are in the amendments.
You seem to be forgetting that the US was born out of Great Britain...who fought a war over the right of habeas corpus and forced the king to sign a pact to honor it. Where did this silly idea come from that a power explicitly given to Congress somehow means that the President has it, too? Surely we're not saying that unless the Constitution expressly denies the President a certain power, he is to be assumed to have it, are we? It's the other way around: Unless the Constitution expressly declares a branch of the government to have a certain power, they are to be assumed not to have it.
That's the entire point behind the Ninth and Tenth Amendments.