Attorney General Pulls A Slick Willie On Congress

The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.

This is the kind of thing that Bill Clinton became famous for back when he was trying to wiggle his way out of admitting that he got a hummer in the oval office. (That such wiggling was even necessary is not coming up for argument at this point.) Now, carrying on the greasy political art of "definition acrobatics", we have Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales:

Specter: Now wait a minute, wait a minute. The Constitution says you can't take it away except in the case of invasion or rebellion. Doesn't that mean you have the right of habeas corpus?

Gonzales: I meant by that comment that the Constitution doesn't say that every individual in the United States or every citizen has or is assured the right of habeas corpus. It doesn't say that. It simply says that the right of habeas corpus shall not be suspended.

Technically... 100% true. The Constitution states that nobody shall have their right to habeas corpus suspended. The Constitution does not specifically state that everybody is assured the right of habeas corpus. Gonzales' argument is: "Nobody shall lose the right to habeas corpus" does not mean that everybody has it to begin with.

But, much like Bill Clinton, when your argument comes down to childish semantics of such a pithy level in order to justify the removal of universally-accepted prisoner's rights for terrorist suspects, you really should concede the point, and search for a more defensible logical foothold to support your argument... if such a thing exists.