12-01-2003
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#141
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Members
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: PayCounter.com, Inc.
Posts: 505
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I'm glad my ACLU dues are paid up!
http://archive.aclu.org/court/padilla.pdf
Here's a nice paragraph:
Quote:
One hundred and fifty years ago, the Supreme Court emphatically rejected the notion that due process safeguards could be ignored in the midst of a national emergency. To the contrary, it held that an American citizen arrested during the Civil War for aiding the enemy had a right to be tried in the civilian courts, so long as those courts were open and functioning. See Ex parte Milligan, 71 U.S. (4Wall.) 2 (1866). The Court’s language and logic are just as pertinent today.
Quote:
The Constitution of the United States is a law for rulers and people,
equally in war and in peace, and covers with the shield of its protection
all classes of men, at all times, and under all circumstances. No
doctrine, involving more pernicious consequences, was ever invented by
the wit of man than that any of its provisions can be suspended during
any of the great exigencies of government. Such a doctrine leads
directly to anarchy or despotism, but the theory of necessity on which it
is based is false; for the government, within the Constitution, has all the
powers granted to it, which are necessary to preserve its existence.
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