The WH says Trump is considering suspending habeas corpus. What would that mean?

ABC News ^ | May 9, 2025 | Kelsey Walsh, Peter Charalambous, and Steven Portnoy

[fluorescence]

White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said Friday that the Trump administration is "actively looking at" suspending habeas corpus, the right of a person to challenge their detention in court.

If carried out by President Donald Trump, the suspension of habeas corpus would be a dramatic escalation of his administration's immigration policy by significantly curtailing a right enshrined in the Constitution.

"First, you know, President Trump has talked about potentially suspending habeas corpus to take care of the illegal immigration problem. When could we see that happen in the future?" a reporter asked Miller as he spoke outside the White House.

"The Constitution is clear, and that, of course, is the supreme law of the land, that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended in time of invasion," Miller answered.

"So, it's an option we're actively looking at," he continued.

[snip]

Miller said that the administration's decision would come down to whether the "courts do the right thing or not."

But legal experts say the issue is not as cut and dried as Miller suggests, and that a president cannot suspend habeas corpus without authorization from Congress.

"Miller also doesn't deign to mention that the near-universal consensus is that only Congress can suspend habeas corpus -- and that unilateral suspensions by the President are per se unconstitutional," Georgetown University Law Center professor Steve Vladeck writes in his Substack blog.

"He's suggesting that the administration would (unlawfully) suspend habeas corpus if (but apparently only if) it disagrees with how courts rule in these cases. In other words, it's not the judicial review itself that's imperiling national security; it's the possibility that the government might lose. That's not, and has never been, a viable argument for suspending habeas corpus," he writes.

[Jacquerie]

Lincoln obtained Congressional permission two years after the suspension.

Scotus hasn’t clearly ruled one way or the other whether Presidents have an authority itemized in Article I.

Taney BTW issued his opinion as a circuit court judge and not as a majority opinion of the Scotus.

[AbolishCSEU]

more like 40 million all told.

[trebb]

When suspension operates, what is suspended? In Ex parte Milligan,15 the Court asserted that the Writ is not suspended but only the privilege, so that the Writ would issue and the issuing court on its return would determine whether the person applying can proceed, thereby passing on the constitutionality of the suspension and whether the petitioner is within the terms of the suspension.

[rolling_stone]

nice to have all those court cases, so will we end up with vigilante street justice and then what? People can only take so much of these judges failure to act on behalf of the AMERICAN people and will do it themselves or did you forget how this country was founded?

[LouAvul]

....we're at a point.....

Not the first time. The 70s Skotus legalized abortion and porn, to name a few. Those reprobate pigs did more harm to the Republic than anyone.

[unread]

"Sadly, we're at a point where even SCOTUS has joined the communist revolution to destroy our Constructional Republic."

“The germ of destruction of our nation is in the power of the judiciary, an irresponsible body - working like gravity by night and by day, gaining a little today and a little tomorrow, and advancing its noiseless step like a thief over the field of jurisdiction, until all shall render powerless the checks of one branch over the other and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated.”

[Thomas Jefferson, 1821]

[Fireone]

“There is no rebellion or invasion”
Seriously? 35 million unimvited foreign fighting men come across our border, but there’s no invasion?

[linMcHlp]

Good catch:

"The germ of destruction of our nation is in the power of the judiciary, an irresponsible body - working like gravity by night and by day, gaining a little today and a little tomorrow, and advancing its noiseless step like a thief over the field of jurisdiction, until all shall render powerless the checks of one branch over the other and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated."

- Thomas Jefferson, 1821

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Government by Judiciary
 - Raoul Berger

A big problem. A worthwhile book.

[Sir_Humphrey]

Suspending habeas corpus is a bad idea. It will be abused in many circumstances beyond migrants

People seem to forget that one day the Dems will be back in the WH(But hopefully not for a long time) If Trump actually deems this to be a legit invasion as intended by the law ,then the Dems can consider any protest a "rebellion" and suspend habaus corpus for the that reason. Talk about a slippery slope!

This is not a good idea and one that any true conservative should oppose. That's why the administration will never do this and it's more likely that this is just trolling to get under the skin of liberals.

[Fury]

A great book by a brilliant professor.

Don’t agree with the crux of some of his arguments. But a must read.

[Az Joe]

No invasion? You are nuts

[PTBAA]

“...There is no rebellion or invasion, and the public safety does not require it.”

You state your opinion as fact, it is not.

In my opinion, there is an invasion and public safety does require it. And given the full-fledged judicial insurrection that has created both a national security and Constitutional crisis, it has become unavoidable.

[Big Red Badger]

Agreed
We Are Being INVADED,
There Is a REBELLION
And
PUBLIC SAFETY Demands IT !
.

[Frank Drebin]

There is no invasion?

My compliments on saying that with a straight face.

[Brian Griffin]

I tend to be conservative in both thought and action.

I definitely do not favor suspending habeas corpus.

If the US needs more immigration judges, Trump can set up a Free Republic account and ask some of us if we need a job.

[Brian Griffin]

Trump needs to work with Congress.

An anchor baby should not be able to collect enough welfare to support a family.

[Lion Den Dan]

I thionk Lincoln suspended habeus corpus during the civil war to snaffel certain anti war persons. It was alright for him.

[Brian Griffin]

“The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.”

That’s in ARTICLE I, SECTION 9. The SECTION applies to Congress and states.

[Don W]

Millions upon millions of military-aged (18-40) men are not an invasion? What planet do you live on?

[Brian Griffin]

“People seem to forget that one day the Dems will be back in the WH(But hopefully not for a long time) If Trump actually deems this to be a legit invasion as intended by the law ,then the Dems can consider any protest a “rebellion” and suspend habaus corpus for the that reason.”

J6ers and Trump know being legally nice is an obsolete concept to DC and NY Democrats.

DC Democrats could learn a lot by visiting a front line in Ukraine. Small drones can pack a big punch.