Habeas Corpus : : Rethinking the Great Writ of Liberty / / Eric M. Freedman.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter New York University Press Backlist eBook-Package 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Freedman, Eric M.,
• Place / Publishing House: New York, NY : : New York University Press, , [2002]; ©2002
• Year of Publication: 2002
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource

Habeas Corpus is the process by which state prisoners-particularly those on death row-appeal to federal courts to have their convictions overturned. Its proper role in our criminal justice system has always been hotly contested, especially in the wake of 1996 legislation curtailing the ability of prisoners to appeal their sentences.In this timely volume, Eric M. Freedman reexamines four of the Supreme Court’s most important habeas corpus rulings: one by Chief Justice John Marshall in 1807 concerning Aaron Burr’s conspiracy, two arising from the traumatic national events of the 1915 Leo Frank case and the 1923 cases growing out of murderous race riots in Elaine County, Arkansas, and one case from 1953 that dramatized some of the ugliest features of the Southern justice of the period. In each instance, Freeman uncovers new original sources and tells the stories of the cases through such documents as the Justices’ draft opinions and the memos of law clerk William H. Rehnquist. In bracing and accessible language, Freedman then presents an interpretation that rewrites the conventional view.Building on these results, he challenges legalistic limits on habeas corpus and demonstrates how a vigorous writ is central to implementing the fundamental conceptions of individual liberty and constrained government power that underlie the Constitution.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Part I -- 1 Introduction to Part I -- 2 The Origins of the Suspension Clause -- 3 The Opinion in Ex Parte Bollman -- 4 Bollman’s Errors—I -- 5 Bollman’s Errors—II -- 6 Some Suggestive Court Decisions -- 7 Conclusion to Part I -- Part II -- 8 Introduction to Part II -- 9 The Legal Proceedings in Frank: The First Round -- 10 The Legal Proceedings in Frank: Federal Habeas Corpus -- 11 From Frank to Moore -- 12 The Legal Proceedings in Moore : The State Criminal Proceedings -- 13 The Legal Proceedings in Moore : The State Collateral Proceedings -- 14 The Legal Proceedings in Moore : The Federal Habeas Corpus Proceedings -- 15 Frank v. Moore: The Legal and Historical Explanations -- Part III -- 16 Introduction to Part III -- 17 Backdrop to the Construction of a Piltdown Man -- 18 The Drafting of Brown: The Core -- 19 The Drafting of Brown: The Periphery -- 20 The Brown Opinions -- 21 The Pre-Bator Context of Brown -- 22 Understanding Brown -- Part IV -- 23 Epilogue: Habeas Corpus as a Protector of Individual Liberty in a Federal System -- Notes -- Index -- About the Author