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Habeas Corpus And Freedom Of Speech, Michael Wells

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This Article will examine substantive attacks on habeas based on the assertion that the petitioner's confinement violates his first amendment rights of free speech, press or assembly. The thesis is that when these rights are at issue, the considerations supporting broad habeas are stronger, and the costs of habeas are lower, than when the petitioner is asserting the violation of a federal procedural right. As a result, the necessary choice of values is more easily resolved in favor of broad first amendment habeas than it is for broad procedural habeas. Essential to this analysis is the premise that a habeas …