No Trial, No Justice: Trump’s War on Habeas Corpus

Trump wants to suspend habeas corpus; your right not to be imprisoned without trial. This isn’t just unconstitutional. It’s a prelude to tyranny. Fight now.

The Alarm Has Sounded, So Why Is Everyone Whispering?

On May 15, 2025, Dan Rather published a warning that would have been unthinkable even a decade ago: a sitting U.S. president—Donald Trump—through his high-ranking operatives, has openly floated the idea of suspending the writ of habeas corpus, the oldest civil liberty in the Western legal tradition. This isn't just a legal or political story. It's a five-alarm constitutional crisis, already in motion. And the scariest part? It’s barely registering as an emergency for the people most empowered to stop it.

Let me say it clearly: This is not hypothetical, this is not academic, this is a live threat. And unless we confront it with the seriousness it demands, the rule of law in America may not survive.

What Is Habeas Corpus, and Why Does It Matter?

Habeas corpus—Latin for “you shall have the body”—isn’t some dusty legal technicality. It is the bedrock of liberty. It protects individuals from arbitrary detention by requiring the government to justify the legality of imprisoning someone in a court of law. Without it, the State has unchecked power to seize you, hold you without charges, deny you legal representation, and bury you in a system with no due process and no recourse.

It is literally what stands between us and the power of the state to disappear people.

It predates the U.S. Constitution by over 500 years, returning to the Magna Carta of 1215, which forced King John of England to acknowledge that even monarchs were not above the law. The Founders of this country enshrined habeas corpus in Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution, making it the only individual liberty explicitly stated in the body of the Constitution itself, not just the amendments.

Why? Because they understood that unchecked detention was the first move of tyrants.

Trump’s Gambit: Suspend the Law, Blame the Courts

Last week, Trump aide and white nationalist cosplay mannequin Stephen Miller told reporters that the administration is “actively looking at suspending habeas corpus” to “take care of the illegal immigration problem.” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem echoed this, declaring it the “president’s prerogative.” (Spoiler: It’s not.)

Let’s be clear: The Constitution places the power to suspend habeas corpus with Congress, not the executive. Before ascending to the Court, Amy Coney Barrett wrote that suspension of the Great Writ rests solely with the legislature. There is no credible constitutional argument that gives Trump this authority.

And even if Congress were on board (they aren’t yet, but don’t get comfy), suspension is only legal “in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion” where “the public Safety may require it.” There is no invasion, no rebellion, only a politically manufactured border panic used to justify authoritarian overreach.

This is not immigration policy. This is a constitutional coup, papered over with buzzwords.

Historical Precedents: From Lincoln to Bush, and the Lessons We Forgot

Habeas corpus has been suspended in U.S. history, but always in moments of deep national emergency, and almost always with bitter legal, moral, and political consequences.

1. Abraham Lincoln (1861):

During the Civil War, Lincoln suspended habeas corpus to suppress Confederate sympathizers in Maryland. Chief Justice Roger Taney ruled it unconstitutional (Ex parte Merryman), but Lincoln ignored the ruling. Congress retroactively authorized it in 1863. This was arguably the nation’s greatest crisis, but even then, it was considered extralegal.

2. Franklin D. Roosevelt (1942):

FDR didn’t suspend habeas corpus, but he might as well have when he authorized Japanese internment. Over 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent were held without trial. The Supreme Court’s decision in Korematsu v. United States upheld the policy at the time; it is now universally regarded as one of the darkest stains on our legal system.

3. George W. Bush (2001–2008):

In the post-9/11 era, Bush's administration detained hundreds of people at Guantanamo Bay without due process, many for years. The Supreme Court repeatedly stepped in (Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, Boumediene v. Bush) to affirm that detainees, even noncitizens, can challenge their detention.

Each of these instances occurred during times of declared war or actual rebellion. Even in those moments, courts fought back, lawyers protested, and history eventually condemned the abuse. There is no such context now. This is not wartime. It is political theater with real-life casualties.

Why This Is Dangerous, For Everyone

Don’t think this stops at immigrants. History teaches us that once you normalize indefinite detention for one group, it expands like rot.

If the Executive can detain undocumented immigrants without cause, what’s to stop them from labeling political opponents as threats to national security? Or declaring protesters “domestic terrorists”? Or saying journalists who expose corruption are guilty of “spreading disinformation” and need to be silenced?

The path from “suspend due process for them” to “suspend due process for you” is alarmingly short.

And here's the kicker: They’re not hiding it. They’re testing the waters, like abusers testing boundaries. They’re floating the trial balloon to see who screams. And if we don’t scream now, no one may be left to scream later.

What Do We Do?

1. Flood the Zone

Call every member of Congress, especially Republicans. Demand they go on record opposing any suspension of habeas corpus. Silence equals complicity. Loudly ask: “Do you support indefinite detention without trial?” Force them to say it.

2. Mobilize Legal Communities

Bar associations, law schools, human rights groups; now is the time for coordinated resistance. Legal observers, pro bono defense teams, and class action suits must prepare for mass detentions and violations of due process.

3. Organize Local Sanctuary Networks

States and localities must step up if the federal government suspends habeas rights. Municipalities can refuse to cooperate. Sheriffs can refuse to hold people without court orders. We’ve done it before, during the Muslim Ban, during family separations. We’ll do it again.

4. Educate Relentlessly

Print flyers. Share articles. Talk to your family. Make memes. Make it visceral. People need to understand what it feels like when legal rights disappear overnight. Use real stories, not abstractions.

5. Strike and Protest

If this becomes reality, we must be ready to take to the streets and stay there. This will require labor organizing, tenant unions, and student walkouts. We can’t rely on the courts to save us alone.

Final Thought: When the Law Is Under Siege, Your Silence Is a Weapon

They want us to be numb. They want us to debate the legality while they bulldoze the morality. But here's the truth: You cannot debate with fascism. You can only defeat it.

The Great Writ has protected every freedom fighter, journalist, dissenter, and innocent soul ever caught in the gears of government abuse. If we let them take that, we have no guardrail left.

We are not waiting for the moment authoritarianism arrives. It’s here.

So, I leave you with the only appropriate response:
Rise. Refuse. Defend the Writ.