Frustrated by Courts, Trump Weighed Suspending a Constitutional Right

[dalton99a]

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/15/us/politics/trump-scharf-habeas-corpus-insurrection-act.html

Frustrated by Courts, Trump Weighed Suspending a Constitutional Right
Secret memos show that the White House debated last year, to a greater degree than previously known, whether to limit habeas corpus rights for undocumented immigrants.
By Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan
June 15, 2026

Last spring, Will Scharf, an arch-conservative lawyer serving as the White House staff secretary, wrote a secret memo to the chief of staff that reflected growing unease in the West Wing about one of the extreme measures being weighed by Stephen Miller, the powerful adviser driving President Trump’s deportation campaign.

Dated April 29, 2025, and stamped “confidential,” the memo was careful and lawyerly but amounted to a warning against end-running the rule of law. The subject line read: “THE WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS.”

Habeas corpus — the centuries-old right to force the government to justify, before a judge, why it has locked a person up — is enshrined in Article I of the Constitution. Mr. Scharf’s memo, in its unassuming way, was a blinking red warning light. The second Trump White House was deliberating an explosive new claim of presidential power: the suspension of habeas rights for unauthorized immigrants.

The suspension of habeas corpus has occurred just a handful of times in U.S. history, and always under the most dire circumstances of war or invasion. Yet to a greater degree than previously known, administration officials, encouraged by Mr. Trump, actively weighed taking that step in the early months of his second term — this time to accelerate the mass deportation of immigrants in the country illegally.

...


https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/documenttools/2afc51a03e41c257/7f0f0dff-full.pdf

Read Will Scharf’s Confidential Habeas Corpus Memo
June 15, 2026

Will Scharf, the White House staff secretary, wrote a secret memo to Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, outlining his concerns about suspending habeas rights for unauthorized immigrants.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. Thank you for posting the memo

I am also very scared

[LetMyPeopleVote]

2. Here is a gift link to the article cited above

This is a long and scary article
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/15/us/politics/trump-scharf-habeas-corpus-insurrection-act.html?unlocked_article_code=1.qVA.udsu.XAy4X9FMTHHA&smid=url-share

[hookaleft]

4. This article is frightening

It also discloses how close they came to implementation of the insurrection act following the killing of Alex Pretti. This administration is so dangerous. I know they will do this come the midterms. Wake up and read the article.

[Boo1]

3. TACO

I'm not going to spend time worrying about things that didn't happen.

[sakabatou]

5. I wouldn't be surprised if Dump also wanted to...

take away the right to assembly, the right to legal counsel, and the right to a verdict by a jury of peers as well.

[pat_k]

6. Why am I not surprised. I assumed the first time SCOTUS ruled Habeas applied they were hell bent to eliminate it.

What is surprising is that he didn't go for it.

As it is, the kidnapped are effectively be denied access to the legal system to an extent that needs to be seriously examined.

All the abuses in the concentration camps are a direct result of policies that make access to legal representation and the courts insurmountable for a majority. From the top to the bottom, they believe they can do ANYTHING, absolutely ANYTHING to those they have captured.

Focus on the abuses is good, but a hell of a lot more focus needs to be on the barriers to the legal system and the sense of impunity it provides, which leads directly to abuse.