A writ of habeas corpus declares that

A) the government must show a legal cause for holding someone in detention.
B) the government cannot send a defendant to stand trial in a geographically distant jurisdiction.
C) a defendant in a felony trial must receive assistance from legal counsel.
D) capital punishment can be neither cruel nor unusual.

A writ of habeas corpus is a legal action that requires a person who is being detained or imprisoned to be brought before a court or judge. The purpose of this writ is to ensure that the government has a legal cause or justification for holding the individual in custody. This is a fundamental right in many countries with legal systems based on the principles of individual liberty and protection against arbitrary detention by the state. Choices B, C, and D are not accurate definitions of habeas corpus.