Kristi Noem is indeed ignorant

An Atlantic headline: “Kristi Noem Should Probably Know What Habeas Corpus Is.” But in the browser tab: “Kristi Noem Is Dangerously Ignorant.” I’ll go with that one.

If Noem were a regular reader of Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American, she would know what habeas corpus means. Richardson wrote about the term last Thursday:

The Magna Carta established the writ of habeas corpus—a prohibition on unlawful imprisonment — and the concept of the right to trial by jury.

Famously, it put into writing that: “No free man shall be seized, imprisoned, dispossessed, outlawed, exiled or ruined in any way, nor in any way proceeded against, except by the lawful judgement of his peers and the law of the land.” It also provided that “To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or delay right or justice.”

Contra NBC News, Noem didn’t “struggle” to define the term or “mangle” her response. Struggling is what you see kids do during a spelling bee. Mangling is what you see when someone mixes up their words. Noem’s answer was prompt, fluent, and utterly, dangerously ignorant.