The Voice News: At a Senate hearing Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem gave a confused and inaccurate explanation of habeas corpus, mistakenly describing it as “a right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country.”
Senator Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) questioned Noem after White House adviser Stephen Miller said earlier this month that the administration was “actively looking at” suspending habeas corpus—the constitutional right that allows individuals to challenge unlawful detention or imprisonment.
When asked to clarify, Noem responded, “Habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country, and suspend their right to …” before being interrupted by Hassan.
“That’s incorrect,” Hassan said, explaining that habeas corpus is the legal principle requiring the government to publicly justify detaining someone. Without this protection, the government could hold people indefinitely without cause, including U.S. citizens. Hassan emphasized that habeas corpus is a “foundational right.”
Pressed on whether she supports habeas corpus, Noem said, “I support habeas corpus. I also recognize that the president of the United States has the authority under the Constitution to decide if it should be suspended or not.”
When asked by Senator Andy Kim (D-N.J.) if she knew where the habeas corpus suspension clause appears in the Constitution, Noem admitted she did not. Kim explained it is found in Article One, which grants Congress—not the president—the power to suspend habeas corpus.
Noem cited President Abraham Lincoln’s suspension of habeas corpus during the Civil War as precedent, saying, “President Lincoln executed habeas corpus in the past with retroactive action by Congress. I believe that any president that was able to do that in the past, it should be afforded to our current day president.”
Kim corrected her, noting that courts ruled against Lincoln and that all suspensions of habeas corpus since then have required Congressional approval.
Noem said she had not discussed suspending habeas corpus with Miller or President Trump. She added, “This president has never said he’s going to do this. He’s never communicated to me or his administration that they’re going to consider suspending habeas corpus. But I do think the Constitution allows them the right to consider it.”
The comments come amid President Trump’s frustrations that due process protections are delaying his administration’s mass deportation efforts. Trump has attempted to use the wartime Alien Enemies Act to bypass these protections for alleged Venezuelan gang members, but courts—including the Supreme Court—have upheld their right to due process.