Can President Trump suspend constitutional rights of Americans due to coronavirus crisis? Experts say unlikely
With the United States registering a record number of coronavirus cases in the country — the highest in the world — there are rising speculations that President Donald Trump and his administration is seeking to suspend certain Constitutional rights of American citizens amid the crisis. Trump's Department of Justice, last week, had reportedly asked the Congress to formulate legislation allowing chief judges in the country to indefinitely hold people without trial and suspend other constitutionally protected rights during the coronavirus emergency.
According to the draft language obtained by Politico, the DOJ had requested that Congress permit any district court chief judge to halt court proceedings “whenever the district court is fully or partially closed by virtue of any natural disaster, civil disobedience, or other emergency situation." The draft stated that the rules would be applicable to "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 US Constitution, however, grants habeas corpus to its citizens, which means that people arrested for any crimes have the right to appear in front of a judge and ask for a release before trial.
With the release of the DOJ report, many have speculated whether Trump or his administration can get the legislation passed, scrapping constitutional rights of American residents. Experts, however, have said that although certain Constitutional rights were suspended during the times of crisis before like President Abraham Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus, it is highly unlikely that the Congress, which constitutes of Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, will allow it to pass, especially at a time when Americans no longer have faith in the government.
"There has been talk of suspending the Constitution during times of crisis, such as President Abraham Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus and Franklin D. Roosevelt's extraordinary wartime powers, such as the internment of Americans of Japanese descent," Elizabeth Freund Larus, Professor of Department of Political Science, University of Mary Washington told MEA WorldWide (MEAWW).
"Americans have (sometimes grudgingly, sometimes willingly) acquiesced to enhanced executive power during times of national crisis, with the understanding that things 'get back to normal' once the crisis has passed. This, in fact, happened during WWII. However, that was when Americans had faith in our government. Americans no longer have that level of trust in the federal government," she said.
The report also stated that the DOJ asked Congress to suspend the statute of limitations on criminal investigations and civil proceedings during the time of crisis until a year after it ended. The Justice Department did not only ask for the suspension of the rights of American citizens but it also reportedly has asked Congress to pass legislation stating that immigrants who test positive for the novel coronavirus cannot qualify as asylum seekers.
President Trump over the past few weeks has declared multiple states in the country as disaster areas, especially New York, which has emerged as the epicenter of the virus outbreak.
Coronavirus cases in the United States have crossed more than 140,000 with at least 2,571 confirmed deaths. COVID-19 has infected 740,000 people worldwide with a cumulative death toll of 35,300 and counting.