'Gregory emphasizes paradoxes: how a writ designed to serve liberty began as a governmental power; how a writ initially designed for individuals accused of crime is primarily sought by those who have been convicted; and how a mechanism originally used by states to question federal detentions is now almost exclusively a federal preserve … Summing up: recommended. Upper-division undergraduate, graduate, research, and professional collections.' J. R. Vile, Choice
Part I. A History of Power Struggles: 1. Common law, royal courts; 2. Parliament and the king; 3. Americanization; 4. Constitutional counterrevolution; 5. Fugitive slaves and liberty laws; 6. Suspension and civil war; 7. The writ reconstructed; 8. Lynch mob justice; 9. The writ in world war; 10. Federal activism and retreat; Part II. Executive Detention in Post-9/11 America: 11. Ad hoc detentions; 12. Bush's prerogative; 13. The dance of the court and the executive; 14. Obama's legal black hole; Part III. Custody and Liberty: 15. The great writ's paradox of power and liberty; 16. A remedy in search of a principle; 17. The modern detention state and the future of the writ.