call your Senator to restore Habeas Corpus-to vote yes on S.A. 2022

[blondie58]

this is a very critical moment and the vote will be very close. This is a letter that I received from the ACLU and the link is a great editorial from the New York Times.






A NEED TO RIGHT WRONGS

In an editorial Sunday, The New York Times outlined what lies ahead in our fight to restore the Constitution:

This week, the Senate will consider a bill that would restore to the prisoners of Guantánamo Bay the right to challenge their detention in court.

... Congress did harm enough by tolerating Mr. Bush’s lawless detainee policies, and then by passing the Military Commissions Act. Giving the president a dictator’s power to select people for detention without charges on American soil would be an utter betrayal of their oath to support and defend the Constitution, and of the founders’ vision of America.

Public outrage is nearing a tipping point. Your phone call could be the one that moves your senator to vote “yes” on restoring our Constitution.

Take Action: Tell your senators to restore habeas corpus.



Dear Friend,

The Senate will have its first up-or-down vote on restoring habeas corpus this week, as early as Tuesday. Inside sources say the vote will be close and many senators are undecided. Your senators need to know where constituents like you stand.

This is a critical moment. Call your senators now -- urge them to vote to restore habeas corpus.

When the President signed the Military Commissions Act of 2006, both he and the Congress that passed it effectively eliminated habeas rights for certain people and turned their backs on democratic values and the Constitution.

Congress is finally taking action to reverse the damage done by years of assaults on our civil liberties. Senators Leahy and Specter have offered S.A. 2022, an amendment to the defense authorization bill to restore the fundamental constitutional right of habeas corpus.

Act Now. Please call your senators and tell them to vote “YES” on amendment S.A. 2022 to the defense authorization bill.

No president should ever be given the sole power to call someone an enemy and lock him or her away with no end in sight, but that is exactly the power the Bush administration has claimed.

Tell your senators to vote “YES” on restoring habeas corpus.

With the White House working overtime to defeat this amendment, we need as many calls as we can possibly muster.

We need to remind Congress to stand firmly behind the Constitution and the checks and balances that make us a democracy, not a dictatorship. So please, call today and forward this message to everyone you know who cares about preserving our Constitution and our rights.

Together, we can right this terrible wrong.

Sincerely,

Caroline Fredrickson
Director
ACLU Washington Legislative Office

P.S. To read Sunday's New York Times editorial, go here. For a response to the editorial and ongoing updates on the fight to restore habeas corpus, check out our find habeas blog at www.FindHabeas.com.



Let's get active. This is a chance to right some of the wrongs from the Bush administration.







http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/15/opinion/15sun1.html?_r=1&oref=slogin