Magna Carta Undone

The Bush/Cheney/Gonzales gang of thugs is absolutely breathtaking in its vicious rape of nearly 800 years of civilized jurisprudence. On June 19, 1215, King John of England, under duress from the more powerful feudal lords of England, signed into law the following provisions in articles 38 and 39 of the Magna Carta:

38 In future no official shall place a man on trial upon his own unsupported statement, without producing credible witnesses to the truth of it.

39 No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land.

At that point in time, only the higher ranked lords of the land held this position of being able to face down their accusers in a court of law, but it was the beginning. More freedoms were added in the 1620s when five knights were thrown into jail by King Charles I for not paying their taxes. The knights sued, on the basis of habeas corpus, on their right to remain free unless convicted of a crime. King Charlie took it upon his kingly self to say that, “By golly, I’m the King and I get to toss into jail anyone I want to (unless you’re a pretty wealthy sort of fellow).” This sure sounds like the kind of thing that is happening right now, in the year 2006.

But the Parliament, comparable to our Congress, had more gumption in those days and they got mad at the King’s presumption of power. In 1628, Parliament passed the "Petition of Right" law, which restated Articles 38 and 39 of the Magna Carta and added that "writs of habeas corpus, [are] there to undergo and receive [only] as the court should order." It was later strengthened with the "Habeas Corpus Act of 1640" and a second "Habeas Corpus Act of 1679." The basic meaning of the 1679 law was that individuals cannot be imprisoned just because the King finds it inconvenient to have them running around, mouthing off and flipping their thumbs at his Royal Majesty. My thanks to John Hemming’s weblog for so nicely compacting several centuries of jurisprudence.

All of these acts of legislative courage were undone on the historic day of September 28, 2006. On that dark day, like another dark day in September of 2001, we cast off our flimsy garments of civilization and lurched back in time more than a thousand years, slack-jawed, knuckles dragging.

The concept of habeas corpus appears to have sturdy Anglo-Saxon roots and it was a brilliant stroke to foist these old laws of the land upon the descendants of the Norman usurper, William the Bastard, whose great, great grandson, John, held the crown and almost all the power of England. Bush and his people, despite their antipathy to France and persons of French heritage, are the now the agents of our own Norman Conquest.

Other far more modern legal concepts were nullified on September 28 of this year by the radically new and broad definition of the term “Enemy Combatant.” Bush can now freely designate legal residents of the United States, as well as foreign citizens living in their own countries as “enemy combatants,” subject to summary arrest and indefinite detention with no hope of appeal. These so-called “enemy combatants”could then, under the terms of this bill be subjected to coerced evidence–translate that into pure and simple torture. This trampling of rights also nullifies a precept of our first president, George Washington. After capturing 1,000 Hessians in the Battle of Trenton, he ordered that enemy prisoners be treated with the same rights for which our young nation was fighting. In an order covering prisoners taken in the Battle of Princeton, Washington wrote: "Treat them with humanity, and let them have no reason to Complain of our Copying the brutal example of the British Army in their treatment of our unfortunate brethren…. Provide everything necessary for them on the road." So recalls young Robert F. Kennedy in a December 17, 2005 article in the Los Angeles Times.

Then, there’s the Geneva Conventions, finally codified in 1949, now to be repudiated a half century later. As well as the use of “Secret Evidence,” which has the sweaty fingerprints of Mr. Richard Bruce Cheney all over it. How Mr. Cheney loves his little dark secrets.

Other sweet little provisions of this new law are dispensing with judicial review. Courts would have no review powers, except for verdicts by military tribunals. Appeals and legal actions based on the Geneva Conventions would be extremely limited in their scope. Bush could simply declare someone an illegal combatant and have that person locked up forever, without trial.

Oh, and rape and sexual assault? A totally acceptable form of torture.

I don’t know about you, but I guess I have to stock up on some smelly old bearskins and go hunting around for some nice clubs for my little cave arsenal. I know that I will not look well in ratty old bearskins and I’m not too keen on eating rotten, raw meat, but it goes with the new rules of the game, ala Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld.

This was pubished on October 4, 2006, in the Federal Way Mirror.