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The Student Chapter of the American
Civil Liberties Union, the International Law Society, and
the Military Law Society at The University of Montana School
of Law co-hosted a symposium entitled:
Civil Rights and the War on Terror.
To follow is a list of the topics, speakers,
and speaker biographies.
"Supreme Court and the
War on Terror"
David Aronofsky
Mr Aronofsky has been UM’s general
counsel and an adjunct faculty member in the schools of Law
and Education since 1994. He teaches international law, technology
law, advanced legislation and education law courses. He previously
practiced law at the Arent Fox firm in Washington, D.C, where
he specialized in all aspects of public and private international
law, education and higher education law, legislation, employment
and labor law, administrative and antitrust law, and complex
civil rights and commercial litigation. Before becoming an attorney,
he worked as a higher education consultant with the Peace Corps
and privately in Chile and throughout Latin America on various
education reform projects. An international development expert
fluent in Spanish, Mr. Aronofsky’s work includes extensive
lecturing and consulting with emerging democracy legislative
bodies on modern lawmaking and reforms; a 1990 Fulbright award
to help Chile’s Congress with democracy transition; membership
on Fulbright committees to select U.S. lawyers for worldwide
overseas awards and scholars in all fields for Latin America awards;
design of law and democracy programs for non-U.S. judges and legal
scholars visiting the United States; and election to the American
Law Institute. Recently, he taught at and helped develop the curriculum
for Uruguay’s
newest law school as part of a Fulbright Scholars award.
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Tom Fleener (background) |
"Military Commission:
A Fair Trial?"
Major Tom Fleener
Tom Fleener is a military officer and lawyer.
Fleener, currently a Major in the United States Army Reserves,
has been appointed to serve as a defense lawyer in the Guantanamo
military commissions. He has been appointed to serve as the
defense lawyer for Ali Hamza Ahmed Sulayman al Bahlul. In
his civilian capacity, Major Fleener is a Federal Public
Defender while serving in the Reserves as a Judge Advocate
with the 22d Legal Support Organization, Trial Defense Service
defending soldiers accused of misconduct. He is a member of the bars
of Iowa and Wyoming. Prior to serving as a Federal Public Defender,
Major Fleener served on active duty as an Army Judge Advocate for nearly
eight years in both the United States and Europe. Prior to attending
college and law school, Major Fleener also served on active duty as
an enlisted soldier. Al Bahlul has consistently insisted that he wants
to represent himself. According to the Australian Special Broadcasting
Service, Fleener understands Al Bahlul wish to defend himself, agrees
he should have that right, and called the commissions a "wholly
illegitimate process." In
his January 12, 2006, diary entry Human Rights First observer
Avi Cover quoted Fleener: "For
four years they wouldn't let detainees have lawyers; now
they're shoving one down his throat."
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Nancy Hollander |
"Representing a Guantanamo
Detainee"
Nancy Hollander
Ms. Hollander's practice is largely devoted
to criminal trials and appeals. She has also been counsel
in numerous civil cases, forfeitures and administrative hearings,
including several involving national security issues and
has argued and won a case in the United States Supreme Court. Ms.
Hollander also served as a consultant to the defense in a high
profile terrorism case in Dublin, Ireland and has assisted counsel
in other international cases. Ms. Hollander has taught in numerous
trial practice programs, including the National Criminal Defense
College and Gerry Spence's Trial College. She has coordinated and
taught training courses for criminal defense lawyers wishing to
appear before the ICC and the ICTY, was the coordinator of a jury
trial training project in Russia, has served as a consultant to
the United Nations Development Programme in Vietnam and was a founding
member of the Council of the International Criminal Bar for lawyers
who will appear before the ICC. In December 2001, Ms. Hollander
was named as one of America’s
top fifty women litigators by the National Law Journal. She
is co-author of WestGroup's Everytrial Criminal Defense Resource
Book, Wharton’s Criminal Evidence, 15th Edition (eight volumes),
and Wharton’s Criminal Procedure, 14th Edition.She has
appeared on such national television programs as Burden of
Proof, the Today Show, Oprah Winfrey, CourtTV, and the MacNeill/Lehrer
News Hour. Ms. Hollander speaks of her representation of
one of the Guantanamo detainees, Mohammedu Ould Salahi.
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Greg Katsas
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"The Bush Administration
and the War on Terror"
Greg Katsas
Gregory G. Katsas is the Principal Deputy
Associate Attorney General of the United States. As the top
advisor to the third-ranking official in the Justice Department,
he presently helps oversee five litigating divisions and eight
other components of the Department. Mr. Katsas has argued nearly
40 appeals and supervised most of the leading civil appeals taken
or defended by the federal government since 2001. His cases have
included such topics as: presidential war powers in Iraq; military
recruiting at law schools; closed immigration hearings for suspected
terrorists; recess appointment of Article III judges; the Elian
Gonzales raid; the Vice President’s energy task force; racial
profiling; partial-birth abortion; assisted suicide; the Defense
of Marriage Act; and gays in the military. Mr. Katsas was actively
involved in the Rasul, Hamdi, and Hamdan cases,
in which the Supreme Court addressed the rights of aliens
detained as enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Recently,
Mr. Katsas successfully argued Boumediene v. Bush, in
which the D.C. Circuit held that the Guantanamo detainees have
no constitutional right to habeas corpus, and El Masri v. Tenet,
in which the Fourth Circuit applied the state secrets privilege
to dismiss claims by a German citizen allegedly detained and interrogated
abroad by the CIA. He served as a law clerk to the late Judge
Edward Becker of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third
Circuit and to Justice Clarence Thomas of the United States Supreme
Court.
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Donna Newman |
"The Case of Jose Padilla:
Implications for the War on Terror"
Donna Newman
Ms. Newman is a prominent
Federal litigator and criminal defense
attorney. She predominately practices criminal defense in
federal court and represents criminal
defendants in complex litigation, securities fraud,
money laundering, white collar crimes, civil litigation & appeals,
and cases involving both international
and constitutional law. She has represented well
over 500 hundred clients in such matters from simple
frauds to complex securities fraud and racketeering
cases. The work of Donna R. Newman and
her staff is well known as is evidenced by her choice
as the 2003 and 2004 National Association of Criminal
Defense Lawyers President's Award. She has participated
as a speaker on various panels on
terrorism and constitutional rights and has frequently
appeared as a guest on national television shows
speaking on issues of constitutional rights and
the impact of 9/11 on civil liberties. One of her
major cases was the representation of Jose Padilla, who
was designated an enemy combatant
by President Bush in June 2002. This landmark
case concerning constitutional issues and international
lawwas litigated all the way to the U.S. Supreme
Court. Ms. Newman discusses how she came to represent
Jose Padilla, what has transpired in the case, and
what the future may hold for Mr. Padilla.
"The Patriot Act: Impact
on Immigration for the Hmong"
Deborah Smith
Debbie is an Adjunct Professor
at The University of Montana School of Law, where she teaches immigration
law, and a partner in the Helena law firm of Reynolds, Motl
and Sherwood, PLLP. Her
practice focuses primarily on immigration law, and encompasses
representation of individuals in removal proceedings and
in federal court, family-based immigration, non-immigrant
admissions, asylum, and employment-based immigration. She
has particular expertise in the immigration consequences of criminal
offenses, and has been recognized as an expert in state and federal
courts. Debbie
lectures and writes regularly throughout Montana on matters
related to immigration, and is especially involved in efforts
to gain legal status for the nation's unauthorized migrant population.
Debbie is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association
and its Washington Chapter, and currently chairs the Chapter's
Advocacy Committee. She is also a member of the National
Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild.
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James Taylor |
"Military Commissions
Act of 2006"
James Taylor
James Park Taylor is the Visiting Clinical
Supervisor. He is the supervisor for the Montana Legal Services
Clinic, ASUM Clinic, Child Support Enforcement Clinic, and
the UM General Counsel Clinic.From 1980 until 1996 he was in private
practice in western Montana focusing primarily on criminal
defense. From 1996 until 2005 he was the Managing Attorney of the
Tribal Defenders Office for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai
Tribes. In 1998 he was named Criminal Defense Lawyer of the Year
by the Montana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. In 2003
and again in 2004 he received the Frank I. Haswell Award from the
State Bar of Montana for articles he authored on military commissions,
the detention of United States citizens as enemy combatants, and
the Guantanamo detainees. In 2005 he was appointed by Governor
Schweitzer to the Montana Public Defender Commission, and was elected
by the Commission as Chairman. He is the immediate Past President
of the Montana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and is
a frequent lecturer on criminal law, legal ethics, human rights,
and legal responses to terrorism.
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Bruce Zagaris |
"OIG Report - National
Security Letters and the Patriot Act"
Bruce Zagaris
Mr. Zagaris work includes white-collar
criminal cases with significant international elements; international
tax law, including criminal tax litigation; money laundering
cases; and consulting for governments and international organizations.
In the Americas, he has worked a broad range of development
matters for governments, businesses, nongovernmental organizations,
and individuals. He is an adjunct professor at the Washington College
of Law of American University in Washington, D.C., and at
Fordham Law School in New York City. He is founder and editor‑in‑chief
of the International Enforcement Law Reporter, and he
is founder and former chair of the Committee on International
Criminal Law, Criminal Justice Section, American Bar Association.
He is also on the board of the U.S. branch, International Penal
Law Association; chair of the Committee on International Criminal
Law and National Security, Section of International Law, D.C. Bar
Assoc.; and chair of the International Enforcement Subcommittee,
Criminal and Civil Penalties Committee, Tax Section, American Bar
Association. He has authored or edited six books and hundreds of
articles. He did legal work in Europe and Africa for two years,
including as a UN consultant in West Africa. In addition, he practiced
customs law in San Francisco and taught at the Law Faculty of the
University of the West Indies.
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