In May 2025, former Trump advisor Stephen Miller publicly stated that the US White House are “actively looking at” suspending habeas corpus, the legal principle that ensures no one can be detained without the right to appear before a judge.
In the United States Constitution, the suspension of habeas corpus is only allowed only in cases of rebellion or invasion.
The firewall between democracy and authoritarianism. Habeas Corpus is what separates a government governed by laws from one ruled by fiat.
When it is taken away, people can be arrested and imprisoned indefinitely without being told why or having the ability to challenge their detention. For them, there are no court hearings, no trials, and no checks. Only silence.
This move should be understood as a direct attack on pluralism, justice, and civil society. And for marginalized communities already under threat, it is a warning shot.
Why Transgender People, Anyone Who Terminated a Pregnancy, and Their Allies Are in Danger
Trans people in the U.S. are already facing unprecedented erasure and criminalization. Parents providing gender-affirming care to their children have been investigated for child abuse. Doctors and counselors risk losing their licenses or being sued for helping trans youth. State legislatures have introduced hundreds of bills attacking our dignity and access to care.
Now imagine these same people—trans youth, their families, their doctors—being swept into a legal black hole. No hearing. No trial. No access to a lawyer. Just detention.
The same is true for women or anyone who terminated a pregnancy — or intends to. In many states, simply helping someone access health care is grounds for criminal investigation. If habeas corpus is suspended, there would be no mechanism to challenge that detention.
Activists, healthcare professionals, even supportive friends or donors could be detained without recourse.
This is not an exaggeration. It is a logical extension of the laws already being passed. And now, it is being paired with a strategy to eliminate one of the last constitutional tools that protects us.
This Is What Authoritarianism Looks Like
Habeas corpus has been suspended before in U.S. history — most notably during the Civil War and in Japanese internment during World War II. Those periods were marked by mass incarceration, racial discrimination, and the erosion of civil liberties.
What Stephen Miller and others are proposing is the same playbook, dressed in different language.
We cannot afford to be complacent. When governments start talking about removing the right to contest your imprisonment, we are already in a state of emergency.
As someone whose family bore the scars of fascism—tattooed numbers from Ravensbrück, silent memories of NAZI reprisals—I recognize this moment for what it is. As a trans woman and human rights advocate, I have felt the chill of targeted hatred and I know what it means to live in fear that the law won’t protect you.
Trust trans people when we tell you it’s awful not to know if you can trust the laws to protect you, or law enforcement to follow the rules aer our by society.
To Our Americans Neighbours: This May Very Well Be Your Line in the Sand
This is not just a legal debate. It is a test of whether civil society still functions.
- Will the courts push back?
- Will Congress stand up?
- Will citizens recognize the peril and act?
Please organize, speak out, and vote accordingly. Please do whatever is necessary to protect your democracy.
To my Canadian friends: we must remain vigilant. These ideas travel. These strategies migrate. We are not immune, and we can not allow such thinking to take root this side of the border.
Further Reading
- The UK Supreme Court’s Ruling on Biological Sex: A Step Backward
- When the Populist Far Right Puts on a Transphobic Face
- Being Transgender in Canada in 2024
Let us not wait for the alarm to sound louder. It is ringing now.
Morgane Oger 
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