Trump admin's threat to suspend core U.S. legal right sparks outcry and alarm

Legal experts and Democrats expressed growing alarm over the weekend that Trump administration officials are openly discussing unilaterally suspending habeas corpus — a bedrock American legal right — without the approval of Congress.

Legal experts and Democrats expressed growing alarm over the weekend that Trump administration officials are openly discussing unilaterally suspending habeas corpus — a bedrock American legal right — without the approval of Congress.

The writ of habeas corpus, which dates back centuries, grants anyone detained in the U.S. the right to see a judge, challenge the government’s evidence against them and present a defense.

But White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller downplayed its significance on Friday, suggesting that the administration could move to suspend it unilaterally. "That's an option we're actively looking at," Miller told reporters at the White House.

Steve Vladeck, a constitutional law professor at Georgetown University, described Miller’s statement on Substack as “factually and legally nuts” and called it the “most remarkable (and remarkably scary) comments about federal courts that I think we’ve ever heard from a senior White House official."

Other legal scholars strongly challenged Miller's assertion that the president could unilaterally suspend habeas corpus, Latin for “that you have the body." Vladeck and three other experts said that a legal consensus has existed for decades that only Congress has the authority to suspend the right.