Marsh 24, 2020.
Attorney General William Barr has recently requested that Congress pass a law allowing federal judges to indefinitely detain individuals pre-trial and suspend other rights that criminal defendants have. Specifically, the DOJ wants to empower federal judges to “pause” court proceedings during instances of “natural disaster, civil disobedience, or other emergency situation.”
The scope is broad, targeting “any statutes or rules of procedure otherwise affecting pre-arrest, post-arrest, pre-trial, trial, and post-trial procedures in criminal and juvenile proceedings and all civil processes and proceedings.” The rights affected would be the protection against excessive fines or bail, the right to a speedy trial, the right to petition for habeas corpus, suspending the statute of limitations, and other crucial constitutional safeguards that are staples of our system.
To read the article at Rolling Stone, click here.