There’s been considerable discussion in recent weeks about basic legal principles such as habeas corpus and the degree to which the Trump administration is hostile toward the bedrock foundations of the American system of government. What’s gone largely overlooked, however, is whether Trump administration officials have a high-school-civics-class-level understanding of what these legal principles are.

Take Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, for example. Axios reported:

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem botched questions about habeas corpus at a Senate hearing Tuesday, falsely asserting the check on the government’s power to detain people actually gives President Trump a “constitutional right” to conduct deportations.

Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire phrased her question about this in a simple and straightforward way: “Secretary Noem, what is habeas corpus?”

The South Dakota Republican replied, “Habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country,” at which point the senator interrupted to note, “Excuse me, that’s incorrect.”

I can appreciate why the typical American with no legal background might not be able to answer such a question extemporaneously, but Noem is not a layperson. She’s a college graduate with a degree in political science; she served several years as a state legislator; she served several more years as an elected member of Congress; she was twice elected to serve as the governor of her home state; and she’s now leading one of the nation’s largest and most important federal agencies — a department that’s currently in the process of seizing people in the United States.

If anyone should have a rudimentary understanding of what habeas corpus is, it’s the secretary of homeland security. But Noem flunked this very easy test anyway, leading Hassan to set the record straight.

“Habeas corpus is the legal principle that requires that the government provide a public reason for detaining and imprisoning people,” the New Hampshire Democrat explained. “If not for that protection, the government could simply arrest people, including American citizens, and hold them indefinitely for no reason. … Habeas corpus is the foundational right that separates free societies like America from police states like North Korea.”

As part of the same congressional hearing, Noem also proceeded to argue that Donald Trump has the constitutional authority to suspend habeas corpus, but that was wrong, too: The Constitution includes this provision as a constitutional power in Article I.

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In case this weren’t quite enough, when Democratic Sen. Andy Kim of New Jersey asked the Cabinet secretary which part of the Constitution includes habeas corpus, Noem was again stumped.

The significance of this goes well beyond marveling at a powerful official’s ignorance. Earlier this month, Stephen Miller, a White House deputy chief of staff, told reporters that White House officials are “actively looking” at possibly suspending the writ of habeas corpus. If this were to happen, the Trump administration would have the power to lock people up without charges, and prisoners would not have the ability to contest their incarceration.

Eleven days after Miller made those comments, the homeland security secretary couldn’t even offer a basic definition of what habeas corpus is — despite the scope of her powers, and despite the fact that this legal principle has existed for the better part of a millennium.

In a healthier political environment, a fiasco such as this one would lead to credible discussion about whether Noem should be forced to resign in embarrassment.