Habeas Corpus in Wartime

Helen Norton, Jotwell In Habeas Corpus in Wartime: From the Tower of London to Guantanamo Bay, Amanda Tyler undertakes "to lay out as comprehensively as possible the full story of the legal and political history of the constitutional privilege of the writ of habeas corpus." She does so with care and style ... Well into the 20th century, as Tyler painstakingly documents, the consensus understanding remained consistent: '[T]he origins and long-standing interpretation of the Suspension Clause understood it to prohibit the government, in the absence of a valid suspension, from detaining persons who can claim the protection of domestic law outside the criminal process, even in wartime.' Even in wartime. Especially in wartime.

Amanda Tyler has written the definitive political and legal history of the writ of habeas corpus during war, from its modern origins in the seventeenth century England to its contemporary use by U.S. courts to check the Commander in Chief in the post-9/11 era. Since the writ's history is so relevant to its modern scope, Habeas Corpus in Wartime will be an indispensable guide for lawyers, judges, and scholars of various stripes who grapple with the meaning of the Great Writ." - Jack Goldsmith, Henry L. Shattuck Professor of Law, Harvard Law School


This meticulously researched book shows how America's Founding Fathers constitutionalised the English Habeas Corpus Act, which provided that only parliament could suspend the writ of liberty. In a series of studies which are rich both in illustration and insight, Amanda Tyler shows how the long-held understanding of the Suspension Clause came under pressure in the twentieth century. The history she has written is not only fascinating in itself, but has important ramifications for contemporary debates on liberty and the constitution." - Michael Lobban, Professor of Legal History, London School of Economic



In this carefully researched book, Amanda Tyler provides a comprehensive history of the complicated ways in which Americans have used-and sometimes abused-the 'great writ' of habeas corpus in times of war or national emergency. Tyler traces this story to its English origins, which Americans studied closely. But more important, she provides a searching account of the controversies that have surrounded the suspension or evasion of habeas corpus, from the American Revolution to our own post-September 11 era." - Jack Rakove, Professor of History and Political Science, Stanford University


In her expansive, intensive, and highly readable exploration of the history of the 'Great Writ' in times of crisis, Professor Tyler has illuminated the past and informed the present understanding of the critical role of habeas corpus as a bulwark against the abuse of power. Her in-depth, original study of Anglo-American materials helps foster an appreciation of the prominent place of the writ in state and federal constitutions." - David L. Shapiro, William Nelson Cromwell ...

Amanda L. Tyler is a Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, where she teaches and writes about the federal courts, the Supreme Court, constitutional law, legal history, and civil procedure. Professor Tyler's scholarship has been published in leading law journals, including the Harvard Law Review, the Yale Law Journal, and the Stanford Law Review. She also serves as a co-editor of Hart and Wechsler's The Federal Courts and the Federal System. Professor Tyler is a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Law School. Following law school, she served as law clerk to the Honorable Guido Calabresi at the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the Supreme Court of the United States. She has run eight Boston marathons.