Trump’s Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem shocked senators by completely bungling the meaning of habeas corpus at a Senate hearing. In response to a question from Senator Maggie Hassan asking “What is habeas corpus?” Noem answered that habeas corpus is “a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country and suspend their rights.”
Totally wrong.
Noem bungled the definition while testifying in front of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee about her department’s fiscal year 2026 budget request.
Habeas Corpus is the constitutionally-guaranteed process people can use to challenge the legality of their detention by the government. If a law enforcement authority arrests and jails you unlawfully, the Constitution gives you the right to request a writ of habeas corpus from a court. The court will then order the arresting authority to produce you and make them explain why they are detaining you. If the authorities cannot show your arrest and detention are legally justified, they must release you.
Noem’s department is violating a court order.
The Department of Homeland Security has been snatching people off the streets of the United States — many of whom have no criminal records, have done nothing illegal and are in the U.S. legally — flying them to distant detention centers, and in many cases sending them, or attempting to send them on short notice to dangerous third foreign countries like El Salvador, Libya and South Sudan, without giving the detainees any chance to challenge their detention — a violation of U.S. law which requires due process.
U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy said on Wednesday, May 21, 2025 that the removals by Noem’s department “unquestionably violated” an order he issued that DHS must give people time to challenge their deportations to countries where they are not citizens.
Gnome Noem went from overseeing a South Dakota staff of 10,000 to a DHS staff of 100,000.
It is apparent that she is in over -the hair/head.
Yet, as is now clear, she is not the only cabinet/staff member lacking skills + knowledge + integrity.
Belligerent ignorance is the most common trait of all Trump’s followers.
Could not have said it better Martin!
I was hoping you would post about this because for once I agree. She is awful and we can’t afford to have people like her in front of the camera.
I’m beginning to see my mother’s point when she said women over forty shouldn’t wear their hair long. She’s an empty suit.
The problem is not Kristi Noem’s hair. It’s her ignorance and extreme lack of humanity.
I’m genuinely curious. What makes her awful but someone like RFK Jr acceptable to you?
I would have thought that she’d be hairy’s type: ignorant, cruel, one-dimensional, and xenophobic.
She’s a woman. Republicans despise women, even those on their own team. It’s why they make them get that weird plastic sugery to make them look like sex dolls.
As a woman over sixty-five who wears her hair long, and wears a business suit on occasion, I am offended! I’m also shocked that you think she is awful. I thought she would be just your type. I personally think she and RFK Jr. are Trumps worst picks to run extremely important agencies.
The Democratic Women’s Group just did a training on Belonging in the Burnout: Building Inclusion in a World on Fire. It may behoove you to look into this type of training so you can stop posting offensive hateful remarks about people who aren’t white males.
In the administration of proudly ignorant, racist, cruel, corrupt, functionally illiterate know-nothings—Kristi Noem stands out even among them. She’s devoid of shame, proudly posing in front of Nazi-era death camp imagery—shaved, caged prisoners behind her—as if it’s a campaign backdrop. Her vindictive pursuit of critics would make history’s most infamous dictators proud. Kristi Noem isn’t an outlier—she’s the distilled essence of today’s Republican Party and its chosen king, Donald Trump.