From The LA Times
By David G. Savage

The military tribunals bill signed by President Bush on Tuesday marks the first time the right of habeas corpus has been curtailed by law for millions of people in the United States.

Although debate focused on trials at Guantanamo Bay, the new law also takes away from noncitizens in the U.S. — including more than 12 million permanent residents — the right to go to court if they are declared “unlawful enemy combatants.”

No one has suggested that the Bush administration plans to use its newly won power to round up large numbers of immigrants.

But before Tuesday, the principle of habeas corpus meant that anyone thrown into jail in the U.S. had a right to ask a judge for a hearing. They also had a right to go free if the government could not show a legal basis for holding them. The Latin term for “you have the body,” habeas corpus is considered one of an accused person’s most basic rights.

Many legal scholars predict the law’s partial repeal of habeas corpus will be struck down as unconstitutional.

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