‘Crazy Dangerous!’ CNN Legal Analyst Nukes Trump Over Habeas Corpus Bombshell
CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig nuked President Donald Trump and White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller over their consideration of a suspension of habeas corpus, calling it “Crazy dangerous!”
A key underpinning of Trump’s deportation push has been the idea that the U.S. is as “war” with certain migrants, and Miller took that another step forward when he said Friday that “the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended in a time of invasion”and “that’s an option we’re actively looking at.”
Trump has alluded to the move as well, although more cryptically.
On Friday night’s edition of CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins, Honig let loose when anchor Kaitlan Collins asked him to assess the news.
KAITLAN COLLINS: Elie, you told me earlier, when I asked you about Stephen Miller’s comments, you thought his description there was wrong.
ELIE HONIG: Yes.
COLLINS: Why?
HONIG: Dead wrong! Crazy dangerous!
Let’s start with the Constitution itself. What Stephen Miller says essentially is, The Constitution gives us the right to do this, to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, which, by the way, just means the ability to go to court to challenge a detention. He’s saying, The Constitution tells us we can suspend that.
But if you look at the actual Constitution, Article I is a restriction. It says, We should not withdraw the writ of habeas corpus unless there is a rebellion, or an invasion, and the public safety is threatened.
Congress is — the Constitution sets the bar incredibly high there, and the history bears it out, which you mentioned before. It’s been invoked four times, right?
Civil War. OK, I think we can understand that. And as Maggie said, it was controversial then.
During Reconstruction, in a very narrow way, by the way, only in certain counties in South Carolina, to try to counteract the Ku Klux Klan.
In 1905, in the Philippines, when we had a hand in governing the Philippines, there was a real rebellion happening in certain regions.
And then — what was the fourth?
COLLINS: Pearl Harbor.
HONIG: Pearl Harbor, right, right. And only–
COLLINS: That was the last time it was used. It was 1941.
HONIG: Exactly. 1944 (ph). And only again in certain areas of Hawaii.
So it’s been used very carefully, in real invasions, narrowly geographically.
COLLINS: So I think the question is, if they’re privately looking at this? And it’s notable that the President referenced it a few weeks ago, and Stephen Miller basically confirmed it today. I mean, it at least speaks to the seriousness with which they are looking at it.
HONIG: Yes, I think it’s chilling, frankly, that the President is discussing this behind-the-scenes. I mean, that is an incredibly dangerous line to cross.
Habeas corpus is, and this is the reason I think there’s some Republican pushback to this, it is one of the most fundamental rights and protections that we have in this country. The right to go into court and say, I am being wrongfully locked up behind bars. If we are going to pull that right? That is a big deal. That’s a red line.
Watch above via CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins.
