Habeas Corpus Restoration Act of 2007, a bill by Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) that would "…restore habeas corpus for those detained by the United States." At that point, the legislation had 23 cosponsors -- 22 Democrats and Independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont -- and I thought I would check back in today and see who has stepped up to show leadership on this issue since then.



With the addition over the last couple of weeks of Senators Byrd, Carper, Klobuchar, McCaskill, Menendez and Nelson (Bill), there are 28 Democratic Senators, along with Sanders, cosponsoring Specter's



Here's the cosponsor list:

It's been almost three weeks since I last wrote about the status of cosponsorship on the, a bill by Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) that would "…restore habeas corpus for those detained by the United States." At that point, the legislation had 23 cosponsors -- 22 Democrats and Independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont -- and I thought I would check back in today and see who has stepped up to show leadership on this issue since then.With the addition over the last couple of weeks of Senators Byrd, Carper, Klobuchar, McCaskill, Menendez and Nelson (Bill), there are 28 Democratic Senators, along with Sanders, cosponsoring Specter's S. 185 , which could very well come up for a vote next week as an amendment to the Defense Department authorization bill.Here's the cosponsor list:

Joe Biden (D-DE)

Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)

Barbara Boxer (D-CA)

Sherrod Brown (D-OH)

Robert Byrd (D-WV)

Maria Cantwell (D-WA)

Ben Cardin (D-MD)

Thomas Carper (D-DE)

Hillary Clinton (D-NY)

Chris Dodd (D-CT)



Dick Durbin (D-IL)

Russ Feingold (D-WI)

Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)

Tom Harkin (D-IA)

Ted Kennedy (D-MA)

John Kerry (D-MA)

Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)

Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)

Patrick Leahy (D-VT)

Carl Levin (D-MI)

Claire McCaskill (D-MO)

Robert Menendez (D-NJ)

Bill Nelson (D-FL)

Barack Obama (D-IL)

Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)

Ken Salazar (D-CO)

Bernie Sanders (I-VT)

Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)

Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)

So I again raise the question: Where are the other Democrats?



We expect almost none of Specter's Republican colleagues to support his leadership on something so basic to our country's creed. The GOP long ago divorced itself of any commitment to our Constitution, so our standards for them have been lowered accordingly. But we expect more of Democrats and should ask why the others are not stepping up and cosponsoring this legislation along with 29 of their colleagues (including Sanders) in the Democratic caucus.



Can they support it when the roll call vote comes, but just not go all the way and sign their names as cosponsoring the bill? Yes. But that's not showing true leadership and, when it comes to one of the most basic American rights trashed by Team Bush, you've got to stand and be counted -- in other words, it's not enough to just show up for the vote.



The following Democratic Senators have still not signed up to cosponsor the Habeas Corpus Restoration Act of 2007:



Daniel Akaka (D-HI)

Max Baucus (D-MT)

Evan Bayh (D-IN)

Robert Casey (D-PA)

Kent Conrad (D-ND)

Byron Dorgan (D-ND)

Daniel Inouye (D-HI)

Tim Johnson (D-SD)



Herb Kohl (D-WI)

Mary Landrieu (D-LA)

Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)

Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)

Patty Murray (D-WA)

Ben Nelson (D-NE)

Mark Pryor (D-AR)

Jack Reed (D-RI)

Charles Schumer (D-NY)

Jon Tester (D-MT)

James Webb (D-VA)

Ron Wyden (D-OR)