In a recent edition of your newspaper (December 4, 2008), a
reader opinionated that it was “unconstitutional” to suspend the
Writ of Habeas Corpus (Latin for “you have the body.”) Section
9, Article 2 of the constitution reads: 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.
The problem with this article was the absence of who was
privileged to suspend the writ. At the time, there indeed was a
rebellion and President Lincoln in that constitutional vacuum
assumed his executive authority to impose the writ even though
Supreme Court Justice Taney asserted he could not. On the
confederate side, President Jefferson Davis also suspended the
Writ, but unlike Lincoln, asked his Congress for the authority
to do so, and it was granted. I believe many years later the US
Supreme Court made a ruling on this matter and I hope a lawyer
well versed in constitutional law can give us the scoop on it.