The following statement is issued on the opening day
of the current term of the United States Supreme Court

October 7, 1996

Defend Habeas Corpus,
The "Great Writ of Liberty"!

The right of habeas corpus -- which predates the U.S. Constitution -- has been gutted by the recently enacted "Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996". If this Act is upheld, it will constitute a great rollback of fundamental rights to an era of racist and unconstitutional state courts not subject to federal court scrutiny.

On this opening day of the Supreme Court, and in the spirit of "October: National Month of Resistance Against the Politics of Cruelty", we urge people to join the battle to defend the right of habeas corpus review of unjust convictions and sentences.

Late last term, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled only on a small part of the new law restricting habeas corpus. In the coming term, it will be ruling on the most substantive issues of limiting grounds upon which federal courts can review state convictions, including death sentences. Now is a critical time to step up the battle in defense of habeas corpus.

What is habeas corpus? Tracing its origins several hundred years ago to the time of the Magna Carta, the writ of habeas corpus has been the remedy of last resort for an individual unjustly detained by a government. Known through history as the "great bulwark against tyranny", habeas corpus procedures have required law enforcement officials to produce a prisoner before an impartial court to review the legality of the conviction or sentence.

British Parliament enacted the Habeas Corpus Act in 1679. Edmund Burke called habeas corpus and English common law the "sole securities either for liberty or justice". In the United States, the Judiciary Act of 1789 created a statutory right of habeas corpus review for federal prisoners. The Habeas Act of 1867 was passed to protect the rights of newly freed slaves and extend the right of habeas corpus review to all state prisoners.

How has habeas corpus been restricted? The "Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act" places severe restrictions on habeas corpus which have nothing to do with "terrorism" and go beyond death penalty convictions--the changes affect the rights of all federal and state prisoners, not just those on death row.

The Act's significant restrictions on habeas corpus include:

• There is a one-year deadline for filing; previously, there was no deadline. In some instances death row inmates will face a six-month deadline, making it extremely difficult for the few capital case attorneys to adequately prepare, and discouraging new attorneys from stepping forward;

• There is only one chance for habeas corpus review, except in extraordinary circumstances; again, before there were no limits on the number of writs that could be filed. A number of reversals of death sentences came only after several writs were filed.

• Hearings to present facts inadequately developed at the state level will become nearly impossible. Under the new Act, a hearing will be granted only if a claim is based on new law established by the U.S. Supreme Court and if the new facts prove that no reasonable judge or jury would have found the prisoner guilty.

• Federal courts are required to accept the state courts' factual findings--a prisoner must disprove the state's version by the high standard of "clear and convincing" evidence;

• Relief will be denied even if the state court is mistaken in applying federal law, unless the prisoner proves the state court's mistaken application is "unreasonable" -- a nearly insurmountable obstacle.

How has habeas corpus saved innocent lives? Federal habeas corpus review has been the primary method for challenging state-imposed death sentences. From 1972 until 1994, federal courts overturned nearly 40% of all death sentences reviewed due to constitutional error or newly discovered evidence. The new Act seeks to limit prisoners' appeals and speed up executions. "Its effect will be to sacrifice fairness on the altar of efficiency in a manner unprecedented in the history of our nation", says Song Richardson of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund.

The Act will lead to the execution of innocent people. The way has already been cleared by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in Herrera v. Collins (1993) that it was not unconstitutional to execute an innocent person as long as all the "procedural and due process" requirements were met.

What can we do? Many legal challenges to the vague restrictions are anticipated. But for those challenges to ultimately be successful will require people to broadly take up the fight to defend "the Great Writ". We urge people to:

• Educate their communities about the history and significance of the writ of habeas corpus;
• Call for the repeal of the restrictions on habeas corpus and other repressive provisions of the "Antiterrorism Act";
• Organize to defeat all efforts to restrict habeas corpus.

signed:

Friends Committee to Abolish the Death Penalty
National Lawyers Guild, New York City Chapter
Network Against the "Counter-Terrorism" Act, NYC
Refuse & Resist!

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