The secretary of internal security, Kristi Noem, has trouble defining the Habeas Corpus at the Senate hearing
Internal security secretary Kristi Noem ate an answer to a question on Habeas Corpus during a Senate hearing on Tuesday, referring to the constitutional law of the regular procedure as “the right that the president must be able to withdraw the people of this country”.
Senator Maggie Hassan, DN.H., questioned Noem on constitutional protection after noting that the White House advisor, Stephen Miller, told journalists earlier this month that the administration “actively envisaged” to suspend the Habeas Corpus, the right to challenge an arrest or imprisonment.
“I want to clarify your position,” asked Hassan. “What is Habeas Corpus?”
“Well, Habeas Corpus is a constitutional right that the president must be able to withdraw the people of this country and to suspend their right to …”, replied Noem before she was cut by Hassan.
“It’s incorrect,” said the senator.
“Habeas Corpus is the legal principle that requires the government to provide public reason to hold and imprison people. If it is not for this protection, the government could simply stop people, including American citizens, and keep them indefinitely without reason,” said Hassan, calling it “fundamental law”.
“Then secretary Noem, do you support the basic protection that Habeas Corpus provides, that the government must provide a public reason in order to hold and imprison someone?” She asked.
Noem replied: “I support Habeas Corpus. I also recognize that the President of the United States has the authority under the Constitution to decide whether it is to be suspended or not.”
The DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comments on the appearance of Noem.
President Donald Trump repeatedly complained that the protections of the regular procedure slow down his efforts with mass deportations. He invoked the law on extraterrestrial enemies in wartime in order to bypass such protections for the alleged members of a Venezuelan gang, but the judges, including the judges of the Supreme Court, are entitled to a regular procedure.
Miller had suggested suspending the Habeas Corpus to accelerate the deportations of people who came to the United States illegally, and cited what is called the “suspension clause” of the Constitution. This clause says: “The privilege of the brief of Habeas Corpus should not be suspended, unless in case of rebellion or invasion, public security may require it.”
Senator Andy Kim, Dn.J., later asked Noem if she knew in which article in the Constitution in which the clause was.
“No, I don’t do it, sir,” she said. Kim said that it was in article one, which describes the powers of the congress, not the president.
“Can you confirm that you understand that any suspension of Habeas Corpus needs an act of the congress?” Asked Kim.
Noem then properly noted that President Abraham Lincoln had used power during the civil war.
“President Lincoln has executed Habeas Corpus in the past with a retroactive action of the congress. I believe that any president who has been able to do so in the past, he should be given to our current president,” she said.
Kim noted that the courts had ruled against Lincoln and that three times the law has been suspended since its realization with the authorization of the Congress.
He asked Noem if she had had conversations with Miller on a possible suspension, and she said that she had not done so. She also volunteered that she had had no conversation with Trump on the subject.
“This president never said that he was going to do it. He never communicated to me or his administration that they will consider suspending the Habeas Corpus. But I think that the Constitution allows them to consider it,” she said.
