exactly a
get-out-of-
jail card
but...
You have a right to challenge why you're being held in jail.
Without this protection - called Habeas Corpus - the government could lock you up and throw away the digital key card. It's a legal idea we borrowed from the British that goes way back to the Magna Carta of 1215.
In some parts of the world people are thrown in the slammer by personal enemies, business rivals, mean girls on the cheerleading squad and bad cops shaking down victims for money.
Habeas Corpus rights can be suspended during a rebellion or an invasion of the U.S. It happened during the Civil War and World War II and after the terrorist attacks on 9/11. When those threats to our country are gone, Habeas Corpus rights should be restored.
Lawyers always like to say Habeas Corpus in Latin because "show us the body" sounds pretty sketchy. Besides they can't actually agree on what it means in English. For this we're paying $575 an hour?
