Last September, President Bush persuaded Congress to rush through a law that deprived prisoners at Guantanamo of habeas corpus, a right dating back to the British Magna Carta and guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. Bills to restore that right are pending in the Senate and House, but their fate is in doubt. At last count, the Senate support was three votes short of a majority.

The English barons forced King John on June 15, 1215, to sign the famous document that declared that justice could never be denied or delayed. That led eventually to the U.S. constitutional provision that “The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.”

But the 2006 law authorizing special military courts included a specific provision eliminating the right of habeas corpus for noncitizens declared by the executive branch to be “unlawful enemy combatants” and voiding pending habeas corpus lawsuits by nearly 200 of the 400 detainees still at Guantanamo. Some, of course, are dangerous terrorists, but many were simply rounded up on suspicion of terrorism.

Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Arlen Specter, R-Pa., have introduced one of the bills, and the change of only a few votes could make the difference between defeat and victory. Thus far, Sen. Susan Collins has upheld the suspension of habeas corpus. She voted against an amendment proposed by Sen. Specter that would have removed the habeas corpus restriction from the 2006 Military Commissions bill. She explained through a spokeswoman, Jen Burita, that the amendment would have allowed detainees to burden courts and military procedures through frivolous lawsuits. She said detainees can still contest their designation as enemy combatants before a Combat Status Review Tribunal and appeal its decision all the way to the Supreme Court. She voted for the bill itself on final passage.

Sen. Olympia Snowe, in a rare absence because of a death in the family, did not vote on either the Specter amendment or the final bill. She did, however, like Sen. Collins, vote for a 2005 amendment that also prohibited habeas corpus lawsuits by the detainees.

Through a spokesman, David Snepp, she argued that prisoners of war don’t have habeas corpus rights in civilian courts and that illegal combatants get less protection under the Geneva Conventions because they are not fighting under the rules of war. She noted that the Supreme Court in February let stand an appellate court decision that removal of habeas corpus is constitutional.

But on the Specter-Leahy bill, Sen. Snowe is “continuing to review that measure.”