Speech #900247113

In ex parte Endo. 1944. an American of Japanese descent secured her release on habeas corpus from the War Relocation Center. where thousands of Japanese Americans had been detained during World War II on the ground of their ancestry. The decision by the Supreme Court in this habeas corpus case was broad enough to invalidate the entire detention scheme and put an end to one of the darkest chapters in recent American history. The two areas in which the writ of habeas corpus has produced the most litigation in recent years are the areas of deportation proceedings and criminal convictions. The writ is available to test the validity of the detention of an alien under a Government order directing his deportation. That is. the writ may be used to secure a judicial determination of the validity. both in law and in fact. of the deportation order. In the case of criminal convictions. the writ is available to test whether a prisoner who has been sentenced to and is serving a term of imprisonment was denied a fundamental constitutional right at the time of his trial. such as the right to the assistance of counsel. or the admission of a coerced confession. Although the broad statutory habeas corpus jurisdiction of the Federal courts over State criminal convictions is now more than a century old. it is only relatihely recentlywithin the past four decadesthat the complexities of the habeas corpus jurisdiction have become abrasive in our Federal system.