There possibly goes the Constitution.

[DocDiggs]

July 16, 2005
Court Gutting in Congress

Congress is quietly considering whether to destroy one of the pillars of constitutional law: the habeas corpus power of the federal courts to determine whether an indigent defendant has been unjustly sentenced to death in state courts. [Italics mine]

A bill making alarming progress in committee would effectively strip federal courts of most review power and shift it to the attorney general. That's right: the chief prosecutor of the United States would become the judge of whether state courts behave fairly enough toward defendants appealing capital convictions. If a state system was certified as up to snuff, then the federal courts would lose their jurisdiction and condemned defendants their last hope.

It is appalling that lawmakers would visit such destruction on a basic human right that's been painfully secured across three centuries of jurisprudence. Repeatedly, federal court scrutiny has laid bare the shoddy state of capital justice in the states. DNA science has drawn attention to the frequency of false convictions.

The injustices of the criminal court process flow considerably from the widespread lack of competent defense counsel in the first place. Yet the proposal would allow state courts greater cover in pronouncing their own flawed convictions as too "harmless and nonprejudicial" to merit further review.

Proponents insist that truly meritorious complaints would somehow survive under this oppressive bill. In fact, it would make the execution of the innocent even more likely than it already is.

[Woodmonkey]

I'd like to see more about this and hear other views on it.

This one just might wind up in P/CP yet!

[Bluehawk]

Temporary suspension of Habeas Corpus is sometimes necessary, so I would like to know more about what the proposal actually says...

As for the Constitution, Habeas Corpus is a very tiny piece of it, so I am not in fear of it going anywhere.

[Woodmonkey]

Do you have a link for any of this Doc so we can research it further?

[BrianK]

In the article there was mention of DNA uncovering past wrongful conviction. If that is the basis for continuing a past practice.

[the habeas corpus power of the federal courts to determine whether an indigent defendant has been unjustly sentenced to death in state courts]

Isn't considering a way to unclog the legal system by use of DNA as THE tool for justice to make certain guilt is indeed a fact. Using DNA to free an innocent now means that a process is in place and recognized as the proof needed to convict a truly guilty person.

Would be interesting to know how many cases could be decided trying a new method. Somehow I'm not seeing thousands of cases being processed this way. Also if cases proven by DNA made appeal a mute point.