A habeas petition proceeds as a civil action against the State agent (usually a warden) who holds the defendant in custody. Habeas corpus is a Latin phrase meaning "produce the body.Federal habeas corpus is a procedure under which a federal court may review the legality of an individual's incarceration. Exhaustion means that you have to give the state court the chance to hear all of the claims you will raise in your habeas petition first. If you did not raise a. In United States law, habeas corpus is a recourse challenging the reasons or conditions of a person's confinement under color of law. Habeas corpus prevents the King from simply locking up subjects in secret dungeons and throwing away the key. The U.S. Supreme Court interprets the Constitution, which means it defines constitutional rights and violations in the cases it decides. Habeas corpus in Latin means "have the body". What we are talking about, of course, is habeas corpus, a Latin phrase meaning "you should have the body.