Restore Habeas Corpus
National Campaign

The resolution we crafted and the American Historical Association endorsed in March of 2007 condemned the suspension in certain cases the centuries-old writ of habeas corpus and substituting indefinite administrative detention without specified criminal charges or access to a court of law. 

The Restore the Constitution Act will be introduced into Congress.  It will end the practices that

• Strip detainees of the right to challenge their indefinite detention through a writ of habeas corpus;
• Limit the ability of citizens and non-citizens to rely on the Geneva Conventions to challenge abuses committed by U.S. government officials;
• Allow for evidence obtained through torture and coercion to be used in military commission prosecutions in some instances; and
• Drastically widen the definition of "unlawful enemy combatant," and, denies non-citizens who are or might be classified as unlawful enemy combatants from having a fair hearing.

Historians Against the War supports this national effort (www.restorehabeascorpus.org) and the initiative of the Center for Constitutional Rights.  In the words of our AHA resolution, we urge all to “take a public stand as citizens on behalf of the values necessary to the practice of our profession.”