Secretary of Homeland Security and admitted puppy murderer Kristi Noem utterly humiliated herself today during a Senate hearing when asked if she knew what habeas corpus is and how it applies to the Trump administration’s efforts to deport people from the United States.
“So, Secretary Noem, what is habeas corpus?” Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) asked.
“Well, habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country and suspend their right to–” Noem began.
“Let me stop you, ma’am,” Hassan interjected.
“President Lincoln used it,” Noem told the senator.
“Excuse me, habeas corpus is the legal principle that requires that the government provide a public reason for detaining and imprisoning people,” Hassan corrected the DHS chief.
Hassan then gave Noem a lesson in the Constitution:
“If not for that protection, the government could simply arrest people, including American citizens, and hold them indefinitely for no reason. Habeas corpus is the foundational right that separates free societies like America from police states like North Korea.”
“As a Senator from the ‘Live Free or Die’ state, this matters a lot to me, and my constituents, and to all Americans. So, Secretary Noem, do you support the core protection that habeas corpus provides, that the government must provide a public reason in order to detain and imprison someone?”
Noem: “Yeah, I support habeas corpus. I also recognize that the President of the United States has the authority under the Constitution to decide if it should be suspended or not. Let us be clear, though, that this President–”
“It has never been done without approval of Congress. Even Abraham Lincoln got retroactive approval from Congress,” Hassan told Noem.
Noem also had the nerve to say that the administration would obey all court orders, which led Hassan to remind her that Trump has already proven that to be a lie.
Here’s the video:
Kristi Noem is a brainless functionary whose only qualification is that she’s willing to break the law to please her boss. She belongs in prison, not leading a major government agency tasked with protecting this country.
