> -----Original Message----- > From: Jeff Garza [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Saturday, October 14, 2006 1:07 AM > To: CF-Community > Subject: RE: Republicans Suspend Habeas Corpus > > And the detainees at Gitmo are from where... California? Maybe Nevada? I > honestly think that you all are grasping at straws here. Like it or not, > our constitutional rights do not extend to everyone on the planet. Those > rights are reserved for American citizens. If you want those rights > extended to everyone in the world, persuade them to adopt constitutions > like > ours. Best of luck...
Our constitutional RIGHTS do not extend to everyone - of course that's true. However our constitutional RESPONSIBILITIES almost certainly do. For example the Fourteenth Amendment reads: "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." It does begin by expressly protecting the rights of citizens of the United States. However it also clearly makes the states responsible, in conduct, to "any person" on several counts. Not "any citizen" but "any person". As another example the Fifth Amendment reads: "No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation." Again it's broadly "No person" rather than "No citizen" or "No one of the people". (The phrase "the people" is often used in the Constitution to indicate the general citizenry.) While the fifth amendment is nominally talking about the rights of the accused it can also be seen as defining the responsibility of the state when dealing with the accused. In that sense it's perfectly valid to say that our constitutional rights don't extend to every person on the planet. However our constitutional responsibilities (at least in many cases) do seem to apply to anybody - citizen or not. A more eloquent way of putting it is that the constitution, in addition to defining our rights as Americans, also embodies (and codifies) ideals that govern our actions when dealing with non-Americans. Jim Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Introducing the Fusion Authority Quarterly Update. 80 pages of hard-hitting, up-to-date ColdFusion information by your peers, delivered to your door four times a year. http://www.fusionauthority.com/quarterly Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:217480 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
