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Procedural Labyrinths And The Injustice Of Death: A Critique Of Death Penalty Habeas Corpus (Part One), Alan W. Clarke

University of Richmond Law Review

Habeas corpus was once a broad writ of liberty: it served to give meaning to expanding notions of due process, it forced state judicial systems to obey constitutional commands, and it made effective modern conceptions of fundamental fairness. Although a simple implement of humble origin, U.S. habeas corpus became inextricably interwoven with the substantive rights it enforced. Without a practical remedy, cutting across state boundaries and affording uniform access, the substantive rights themselves lose meaning. A right without remedy is a right without meaning. Thus, habeas corpus became an important part of the substantive rights that it enforced.