Column | ‘Kilmar Garcia’ determines whether the US is still rule of law

As more often, Trump’s excesses are also unheard of and therefore fascinating. An average attempt to damage the constitution will then soon go down, in a ‘attempt bribery’ with a presidential plane for Trump by Qatar.

But last week, the deputy chief of Staff of the White House suggested that the president the ‘Habeas Corpus’ rule Want to suspend. I understand that not everyone immediately sees the meaning of it. But it made me cold.

According to the US Constitution, this is only allowed in the case of rebellion or ‘invasion’. Suspension means that citizens are denied access to the court. Citizens can then be arrested by the executive, without judicial control.

Habeas Corpus (You Have the body. Lat) already came in the Magna Carta for. It is the ultimate guarantee against feudal abuse of power. It gives the national the chance to ask the court whether his arrest is right – and if not, to be released. It is literally the boundary between tyranny and democracy. This is exactly what a constitution is for. Now the term Floating the Idea Used – the thought of ‘trying out politics’. The congress may decide something like that, not the president, Which is still an obstacle. That power is fantasizing wildly and asks lawyers for the road will not be for the first time. In the previous rule of law that the US permitted, Guantanamo Bay, Berkeley-professor John Yoo explained in the ‘Torture Memos’ in 2002, according to him, which torture methods could legally be over. Namely waterboardingsleep deprivation and forced stress postures. All within the powers of the president, then George W. Bush, according to Yoo ‘if’ under war conditions. Which lawyer is now the suspension of Habeas Corpus Sell ​​as legitimate?

Previously Habeas Corpus Suspected by the American Civil War in 1861, when the southern states separated. Ten years later, the federal government wanted to be able to act unhindered against the Ku Klux Klan. At the beginning of the 20th century, during the occupation of the Philippines. This century Bush prisoners wanted to keep Bay Bay away from the judge, which failed. Now an ‘invasion’ of illegal migrants serves as an excuse, which must be deported outside the court. To a question from a TV journalist or the office, the president does not oblige to protect the constitution, Trump replied: « I don’t know. » He provided a ‘few million processes’ if he would throw everyone the country that qualifies for that. After which he drew the wrong conclusion. Namely that the rule is the problem, not the protected interest – the freedom of the citizen.

Here the contours of a constitutional crisis become clear. That also wrote the federal Judges in the Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia case. This is exactly about the wishes of the President « to lock residents of this country in foreign prisons without any form of decent legal proceedings, the basis of our constitutional order. » Exact what Garcia had happened to. He fled in 2011 for Bendegeweld from El Salvador, gained a protected status in the US. And was arrested in March on the incorrect suspicion of membership of the MS-13 gang that he had fled as a 16-year-old. Then he was put back on the plane without a fuss. The desire to be allowed to do that outside the judiciary would, according to the ruling, should not only shock judges, but also the intuitive sense of freedom that Americans (..) still cherish.  »

Trump sees a terrorist in Garcia, which would be enough. The judges: « Maybe, but perhaps not. Anyway, he is entitled to a fair trial. » The pronunciation is crystal clear, hard and superior formulated.

If the judge approves this, « it would reduce the rule of law to lawlessness and the values ​​for which Americans of all beliefs have always stood. » If Garcia remains locked up in El Salvador « what is the guarantee tomorrow that (the state) will not deport American citizens and then deny its responsibility to get them back? » Finally: « We continue to hope that it is not naive to believe that our civil servants consider the rule of law as essential for the American Spirit in the executive. » Kilmar Garcia, the man whose return determines the fate of the rule of law in the US. As long as it is still possible.

Folkert Jensma is a legal journalist and writes this column every other week on Wednesday.

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