Stephen F. Hanlon
Holland + Knight, LLP

Laurle a Robinson
University of Pennsylvania Jerry Lee
Center of Crimindogy

I am writing in connection with the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing tomorrow on "Restoring Habeas Corpus: Protecting American Values and the Great Writ." I am forwarding letters by nine prominent conservative leaders as well as the Constitution Project's statement by a bipartisan group of over forty-five legal and policy experts, all of which urge Congress to restore the habeas corpus jurisdiction eliminated by the Military Commissions Act.

POLICY ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Melody Barnes
Center for American Progress

Christopher Caine
IBM

ter Edelman
eorgetown University Law Center

Dean Esserman
Providence, R.I. Police Department

Thomas Gottschalk
Kindand & Ellis LLP

David Keene
Chair, American Conservative Union

The authors of the letters are Colonel Lawrence B. Wilkerson,
U.S. Army (Ret.), former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin
Powell; William Sessions, former Director of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation and federal judge; Alberto Mora, former General
Counsel for the United States Navy; David Keene, Chairman of
the American Conservative Union; John Whitehead, President of
the Rutherford Institute; Bruce Fein, Chairman of the American
Freedom Agenda and Deputy Attorney General in the Reagan
administration; Richard Epstein, professor of law at the University
of Chicago and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution; Bob Barr,
21st Century Liberties Chair at the American Conservative Union
and former member of Congress (R-GA); and Don Wallace, Jr.,
professor at Georgetown University Law Center and Chairman of
the International Law Institute.

Abner J. Mikva
University of Chicago School of Law

L. Michael Soldman
Georgetown University Law Center

Roger Wilkins
George Mason University

Hubert Wiliams
Palice Foundation

I hope you find these materials helpful.

I served for thirty-one years in the United States Army and, from 2002 to 2005, as Chief
of Staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, and am writing to urge that you restore
the habeas corpus rights eliminated by the enactment of the Military Commissions Act
(MCA) last year. Earlier this year, I was pleased to join with a broad, bipartisan group of
over forty-five legal and policy experts in a statemeat urging restoration of these rights. I
have enclosed the statement, which was issued by members of the Constitution Project's
Liberty and Security Commincc and the Project's Coalition to Defend Checks and
Balances. The statement notes that habeas corpus rights are most critical in situations of
executive detention without charge and that these rights represent the essence of the
American legal system. I am aware that Abraham Lincoln suspended these rights in our
Civil War. But I believe that had Lincoln survived to read it, he would have applauded
the Supreme Court decision in 1866 that restored these rights. I also know that no matter
bow desperate our Civil War was at times, no one seriously believed it would endure for
several decades. The so-called war on terror may do just that. We cannot afford to
become so accustomed to a deprivation of these rights.

I believe that this issue should unite all Americans, no matter what their political philosophy, and I urge you to support legislation that will restore these habeas corpus rights.

Sincerely,

Lawrence B. Wilkerson

I am writing to urge that you restore the habeas corpus rights eliminated by the enactment of the Military Commissions Act (MCA) last year. I ara a former Chief Judge in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas and served as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Earlier this year, I was pleased to join with a broad, bipartisan group of over forty-five legal and policy experts in a statement urging restoration of these rights. I have enclosed the statement, which was issued by members of the Constitution Project's Liberty and Security Committee and the Project's Coalition to Defend Checks and Balances. The statement notes that habeas corpus rights are most critical in situations of executive detention without charge and that these rights represent the essence of the American legal system.

I believe that this issue should unite all Americans, no matter what their political philosophy, and I urge you to support legislation that will restore these habeas corpus rights.

Sincerely,

William S. Sessions

I served as General Counsel to the Department of the Navy earlier in the current administration and am writing to urge that you restore the habeas corpus rights eliminated by the enactment of the Military Commissions Act last year. Earlier this year. I was pleased to join with a broad, bipartisan group of over fortyfive legal and policy experts in a statement urging restoration of these rights. I have enclosed the statement, which was issued by members of the Constitution Project's Liberty and Security Committee and the Project's Coalition to Defend Checks and Balances.

Habeas corpus rights represent the essence of the American legal system, a manifestation of fundamental fairness. But restoration of these rights is required not only as a matter of consistency with our values and legal system. In the War on Terror, the extension of habeas rights to potentially long-term detainees helps etch the sharpest possible distinction between ourselves and our adversaries at no real cost to our security. At the same time, it helps establish a common legal framework with our traditional allies - which we do not now have for the prosecution of the war. Such a framework, and the broad-based alliances it can facilitate, is a war-fighting necessity in this type of war. Its absence reduces our defenses.

I believe that this issue should unite all Americans, no matter what their political philosophy, and I urge you to support legislation that will restore these rights.

I am writing to you today both as Chairman of the American Conservative Union and as
Co-chair of the Constitution Project's Liberty & Security Initiative to urge your support
of action to restore the habeas corpus rights eliminated by the enactment of the Military
Commissions Act (MCA) last year.

The world wide struggle in which our nation is today engaged is one we must win and I agree completely with those who argue that our government needs the powers necessary both to pursue that struggle to a victorious conclusion and to protect the US homeland from terrorist attack, but that does not mean that we simply ignore the traditional American constitutional and common law rights that have made our regard for human liberty unique in world history.

Earlier this year, I was pleased to join with a broad, bipartisan group of over forty-five legal and policy experts in a statement urging restoration of these rights. I have enclosed the statement, which was issued by members of the Constitution Project's Liberty and Security Committee and the Project's Coalition to Defend Checks and Balances. The statement notes that habeas corpus rights are most critical in situations of executive detention without charge and that these rights represent the essence of the American legal system.

I believe that this issue should unite all Americans, no matter what their political philosophy, and I urge you to support legislation that will restore these habeas corpus rights.