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Home › MD Voter › Fall 2007, Volume 7, No. 3

Day of Action to Restore Law and Justice

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by Andrea Morris Gruhl, LWVMD Director for Civil Liberties/Homeland Security The Day of Action to Restore Law and Justice drew hundreds of people from across the nation to Capitol Hill in late June. More than 50 organizations including the League of Women Voters of the United States were co-sponsors with the American Civil Liberties Union, mastermind of the event. Many Maryland Leaguers availed themselves of ACLU chartered buses from Baltimore and Annapolis to the Hill. Chief concerns of the day were habeas corpus, use of torture, and unconstitutional aspects of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA). The suspension of our historic “writ of habeas corpus” giving the right to have an independent court decide if a person is imprisoned legally or illegally, (guaranteed in Article I, Section 9 of the US Constitution), is permissible using the MCA. The Act partially reversed the Supreme Court’s Hamden v. Rumsfeld ruling on the illegality of Guantanamo Bay detainees’ judicial treatment. The MCA permits hundreds of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere to be held for more than five years without charges, and permits an unreviewed presidential decision on who is categorized an enemy combatant and which prison techniques are torture and abuse. In brief, Day of Action demonstrators asked the Congress • to restore habeas corpus and due process • to end torture and abuse in secret prisons • to stop extraordinary rendition (secretly kidnapping people and sending them to countries that torture) • to close Guantanamo Bay and give those held there access to justice • to restore the rule of law A rally in the morning and lobbying in the afternoon were the main features of the Day. Maryland Senator Ben Cardin bravely headed the list of dignitaries speaking at the rally. After hearing the speeches, attendees scattered across the Hill to visit the Capitol and the offices of Senators and Representatives. Since the Immigration Bill was being debated and voted on that afternoon and other major groups were lobbying their causes, lobbying visits were mainly discussions and position material drop-offs with staff. The tens of thousands of signatures preliminarily gathered on the Day of Action petitions demanding restoration of rights were delivered to congressional offices.