If You Know, You Know, But, If You Don’t…You Might Be A Trump Appointee

Habeas corpus is a bedrock legal principle requiring that government be able to produce a reason to detain someone. I lay this out at the start of this conversation for three reasons. First, because the average American may not know what it means, second, because the Trump administration is allegedly considering suspending Habeas Corpus, and third, one of Trump’s top lieutenants attempting to bluff her way through testifying before a Senate Committee doesn’t, or at least didn’t know what it means.

Yesterday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem testified before the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on the Department of Homeland Security fiscal year ’26 budget. In the process, she was asked to define the aforementioned legal principle. Noem, in responding to Senator Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., responded: “Habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country.”

Of course, habeas corpus is a legal principle that safeguards individuals from unlawful imprisonment by enabling them to petition the court to review the legality of the detention. President Trump likes to boast about hiring the best people. Simultaneously, he has engaged in a full-frontal assault on DEI and other remedies to historical disparities, especially in employment. That someone he placed in this key position was unable to correctly answer such a basic question about a fundamental tenet of a core responsibility of the job, is at best, tragicomic. But it was also the latest example of one of Trump’s so-called best people lacking the foundational heft to understand key elements of her job assignment. “If You Know, You Know; If You Don’t…You Might Be A Trump Appointee!”

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