Jim Acosta: "WE ARE IN DANGER" -- Heather Cox Richardson Exposes Trump's Habeas Corpus Threat

[marmar]

Jun 27, 2026 #jimacosta #HeatherCoxRichardson #habeascorpus

Historian Heather Cox Richardson joins Jim Acosta to break down a terrifying constitutional threat: internal discussions within Donald Trump's circle about suspending the writ of habeas corpus. What does this mean for the future of American democracy, the Department of Justice, and your fundamental rights?

In this episode:The Historical Precedent: Why suspending habeas corpus essentially establishes a state of executive overreach.The DOJ Factor: How the current weaponization of government entities threatens legal opposition.What's At Stake: Richardson explains why treating political opponents as "enemies of the state" threatens the upcoming elections.Support independent journalism! Subscribe to the channel, turn on notifications, and leave a comment below with your thoughts on this breaking historical analysis.#jimacosta #HeatherCoxRichardson #habeascorpus #trumpnews

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1. Lincoln suspended habeas corpus

from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habeas_Corpus_Suspension_Act_(1863)
"At the outbreak of the American Civil War in April 1861, Washington, D.C., was largely undefended, rioters in Baltimore, Maryland threatened to disrupt the reinforcement of the capital by rail, and Congress was not in session. The military situation made it dangerous to call Congress into session.[5] In that same month (April 1861), Abraham Lincoln, the President of the United States, therefore authorized his military commanders to suspend the writ of habeas corpus between Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia (and later up through New York City).[6][7] Numerous individuals were arrested, including John Merryman and a number of Baltimore police commissioners; the administration of justice in Baltimore was carried out through military officials. When Judge William Fell Giles of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland issued a writ of habeas corpus, the commander of Fort McHenry, Major W. W. Morris, wrote in reply, "At the date of issuing your writ, and for two weeks previous, the city in which you live, and where your court has been held, was entirely under the control of revolutionary authorities."[8]

Merryman's lawyers appealed, and in early June 1861, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney, writing as the United States Circuit Court for Maryland, ruled in ex parte Merryman that Article I, section 9 of the United States Constitution reserves to Congress the power to suspend habeas corpus and thus that the President's suspension was invalid.[9] "

Chief Justice Roger Taney is infamous for the Dred Scott decision. Thus, the Supreme Court sorta ruled that only Congress could suspend habeas corpus. Taney acted solo without the full court.

Congress obligingly passed the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act, which Lincoln used.

Military tribunals were trying and sentencing civilians.

more wiki: "Because all of the provisions of the Act referred to the Civil War, they were rendered inoperative with the conclusion of the war and no longer remain in effect."

I expect that some Reich-wingers will try to torture language into showing that the Act is still in effect. They will likely, hopefully, fail.

PS for context: the first bloodshed of the Civil War was in downtown Baltimore, when a mob attacked Union troops marching between train stations. Soldiers and civilians were killed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore_riot_of_1861: "The riot produced the first deaths of Union volunteers by hostile action, although caused by civilians, in the American Civil War. Civilians among the attackers also were killed."