Due Process and Habeas Corpus: The Bedrock of American Justice

This Memorial Day, remember what soldiers died for - they died defending our Constitutional rights.

Memorial Day is a time to recognize the sacrifice of those who died in battle defending the US and its Constitution. The Trump Administration is trying to dismantle those rights from within. Let’s examine what soldiers died defending.

The U.S. legal system is built on two fundamental principles that distinguish it from authoritarian regimes around the world: due process and habeas corpus. These concepts are not optional legal luxuries—they are the essential safeguards that keep government power in check and protect the rights of every person within our borders. Without them, the rule of law collapses. And yet, in both his first and second terms, Donald Trump has sought to dismantle these protections in ways that should alarm every American.

Due process guarantees that no person—citizen or non-citizen—can be deprived of life, liberty, or property without fair legal proceedings. It means people have the right to be heard in court, to see the evidence against them, and to defend themselves before an impartial judge. It’s a foundational guarantee of fairness in our system, dating back to the Magna Carta and enshrined in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the US Constitution.

But during Trump’s presidency, due process has been treated as an inconvenience. In his first term, Trump tweeted in 2018 that people who cross the border illegally “must be sent back immediately, with no Judges or Court Cases.” That sentiment wasn’t just rhetoric—it translated into policies that expedited deportations and denied immigrants access to the courts. People were removed from the country without hearings, often without access to lawyers, and sometimes without even knowing their legal options.

This practice has continued and intensified in Trump’s second term. The administration expanded “expedited removal” policies to bypass immigration judges, leaving individuals—some of whom had lived in the U.S. for years—with no meaningful opportunity to challenge their deportation. These moves effectively replaced due process with executive discretion, making immigration enforcement arbitrary and unchecked. What is worse this time around is that we have essentially sentenced people to lifetime imprisonment in concentration camps in countries like El Salvador and South Sudan, with talks underway to send people to a prison overseen by a warlord in Libya! Once these people are turned over to barbaric regimes, we don’t know what will happen to them. Will they become slaves or be trafficked by warlords? We do not know; the Trump Administration just turns them over and washes their hands of the situation.

Habeas corpus, the centuries-old right to challenge unlawful detention, is just as essential. It ensures that no one can be imprisoned by the government without access to a court. The framers of the Constitution called it the “great writ” because it is the ultimate safeguard against tyranny.

Yet in early 2025, the Trump Administration floated the idea of suspending habeas corpus rights for detained migrants. Top adviser Stephen Miller claimed the administration could legally do so by invoking the Constitution’s “invasion” clause. This proposal, if enacted, would create a legal black hole where individuals could be held indefinitely with no opportunity to contest their detention in court. Once again, the Trump Administration wants to lock people up in concentration camps for life without determining if they have committed any crimes.

That’s not just unconstitutional—it’s authoritarian. Suspending habeas corpus turns the U.S. legal system into one that mirrors the practices of dictatorships, where the government can imprison people indefinitely without explanation, charge, or trial. And once they have suspended due process and habeas corpus, even US citizens can be detained and disappeared to these foreign camps and prisons. All the Trump Administration has to say is that they are foreign migrant invaders, and the detainees will have no ability to demonstrate their citizenship or status because court hearings and protections will be nonexistent.

What makes the American system of justice exceptional is not its power to punish, but its commitment to fairness. As we remember those who lost their lives defending our country this weekend, we should also remember what they were fighting for. They were defending our Constitution and all that it stands for. Stripping away due process and habeas corpus turns the rule of law into rule by decree. No society that claims to be free can tolerate such a slide.

The erosion of these principles isn’t theoretical—it’s happening. And if we allow it to continue, we risk transforming the American legal system from one of justice to one of unchecked power.