In a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing on Tuesday, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem sparked controversy after mischaracterising the constitutional principle of habeas corpus. Her comments prompted an immediate correction from Senator Maggie Hassan and ignited a flurry of online criticism.

Amanda Tyler, a constitutional law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, called habeas corpus “one of the single most foundational aspects of American law and the American constitution....