People Are Freaked Out That Trump Could Suspend This Constitutional Right

Trump adviser Stephen Miller suggested the administration would look into suspending the right if judges don't fall in line with its agenda.

Top Trump adviser Stephen Miller got the weekend off to a bang by telling his fellow Americans the Trump White House would like to suspend even more constitutional rights.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, the White House deputy chief of staff said the Trump administration has been “actively looking at” suspending habeas corpus, a fundamental legal right that allows anyone arrested by the government to challenge their detention in court.

“Well, the Constitution is clear — and that, of course, is the supreme law of the land — that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended in a time of invasion,” Miller said, using the administration’s xenophobic argument that immigration to the U.S. amounts to an invasion.

Habeas corpus, which means “you should have the body” in Latin, is supposed to guarantee an individual’s right to physically appear in front of a judge and challenge their detention.

However, the Trump administration has invoked the Alien Enemies Act, an obscure 18th-century power, to send foreign nationals to prison in El Salvador without due process.