This is MOST important!!! Make the calls!!!

Crossposted from Obsidian Wings

Via FDL, I see that Sen. Leahy is asking people to phone their Senators in support of S. 185, the Habeas Restoration Act. This bill does exactly what it says it does: it undoes the provisions of last year’s Military Commissions Act that deprived detainees of habeas corpus. I think that links to search results in Thomas, the congressional database, don’t work, but if you go here and look up S. 185, you’ll find it.

Leahy writes (via FDL):

“Many of you may recall the hasty passage of the Military Commissions Act in the weeks leading up to last year’s election, a bill that set new rules for trying detainees, in particular those currently being held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

The passage of this bill was a profound mistake, and its elimination of habeas corpus review was its worst error. Righting this wrong is one of my top priorities, and on the first day of this Congress I joined with Senator Arlen Specter to introduce the Habeas Corpus Restoration Act (S. 185). This bipartisan bill already has 17 cosponsors, but it faces a crucial vote in the Judiciary Committee this Thursday so we need your help.”

The bill is currently sponsored by the following Senators, in addition to Sen. Specter, who wrote it:

Sen Biden, Joseph R., Jr. [DE]
Sen Brown, Sherrod [OH]
Sen Cantwell, Maria [WA]
Sen Clinton, Hillary Rodham [NY]
Sen Dodd, Christopher J. [CT]
Sen Durbin, Richard [IL]
Sen Feingold, Russell D. [WI]
Sen Feinstein, Dianne [CA]
Sen Harkin, Tom [IA]
Sen Kennedy, Edward M. [MA]
Sen Kerry, John F. [MA]
Sen Lautenberg, Frank R. [NJ]
Sen Leahy, Patrick J. [VT]
Sen Levin, Carl [MI]
Sen Obama, Barack [IL]
Sen Rockefeller, John D., IV [WV]
Sen Salazar, Ken [CO]
Sen Whitehouse, Sheldon [RI]

FDL has compiled a list of toll-free numbers for the Capitol switchboard:

1 (800) 828 - 0498
1 (800) 459 - 1887
1 (800) 614 - 2803
1 (866) 340 - 9281
1 (866) 338 - 1015
1 (877) 851 - 6437

If you agree that habeas corpus should be restored to detainees — that everyone our government detains should have the right to ask the government to justify their detention in a court of law, so that the government cannot just toss people in prison without any accountability — then it would be worth giving your Senators a call. Thanks.

H/T Bat for the 411 on this!!