Gonzales: There is no express grant of habeas corpus in the Constitution
Alberto Gonzales: Again, there is no express grant of habeas in the Constitution. There is a prohibition against taking it away. But it’s never been the case, and I’m not a Supreme –
Arlen Specter: Now, wait a minute. Wait a minute. The constitution says you can’t take it away, except in the case of rebellion or invasion. Doesn’t that mean you have the right of habeas corpus, unless there is an invasion or rebellion?
Alberto Gonzales: I meant by that comment, the Constitution doesn’t say, “Every individual in the United States or every citizen is hereby granted or assured the right to habeas.” It doesn’t say that.
Technically, he is right. It doesn’t expressly grant the right of habeas corpus. It prohibits the removal of it (except during invasion or rebellion), implying that the right is normally retained. But it is a minor matter of wording. It doesn’t change the fact that habeas corpus is a guaranteed constitutional right. On the surface, this just makes Gonzales petty and argumentative. But I think it actually represents something worse: a disdain for restrictions on government power, and a completely backwards conception of the Constitution.
Consider the 9th Amendment:
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Quoth James Madison:
It has been objected also against a bill of rights, that, by enumerating particular exceptions to the grant of power, it would disparage those rights which were not placed in that enumeration; and it might follow by implication, that those rights which were not singled out, were intended to be assigned into the hands of the General Government, and were consequently insecure.
Clever souls, our founding fathers anticipated that authoritarian assholes like Alberto Gonzales would come along one day and say “wait a second, it doesn’t say that the people have [some right]” and then proceed to take that right away. They covered that base with the 9th Amendment.
Of all the power-hungry goons in the Bush Administration who stand in opposition to the principles that define America, there is none so odious as Alberto Gonzales. I’ll cheer his exit most of all.
