Habeas Corpus and the Limits on Government Power: The Right to a Day in Court | Retro Report

Explore a constitutional question that arose in the nation’s earliest years is back at the center of a national conversation: Can the government hold or expel people without giving them a day in court? During President Donald Trump’s second term, his administration expanded travel bans and invoked the Alien Enemies Act to speed deportations, actions that revived a debate over habeas corpus. That phrase, Latin for “you should have the body,” is a legal right that lets people held by the government ask a judge to review whether their detention is lawful. This lesson helps students explore the way courts act as a check on presidential power, and why habeas corpus remains one of the most important phrases in American law.