Panelists (From Left): Jamil Dakwar, Senior Human Rights Attorney, American Civil Liberties Union; Timothy Bakken, Professor of Law, United States Military Academy, West Point, Visiting Scholar, Columbia University School of Law; Joanne Mariner, Terrorism and Counterterrorism Program Director, Human Rights Watch; and Hina Shamsi, Senior Counsel, Law and Security Program, Human Rights First
On November 1, 2006, the New York Chapter of the American Constitution Society, in conjunction with the the NYSBA Committee on Civil Rights, and the Cardozo Public Interest Law Students Association, sponsored a panel on The Military Commissions Act of 2006 and Executive Power: Interrogation, Detention and Prosecution in the War on Terror at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.
Just two weeks after President Bush signed the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA) into law, the Committee hosted a spirited and informative discussion on the MCA's implications on due process and basic separations of powers principles. Among other things, the panelists addressed the MCA’s stripping Article III courts of jurisdiction to hear habeas corpus petitions filed by detainees classified as enemy combatants. The panelists also debated the potential immunity for CIA operatives who engage in alleged abusive interrogation practices, as well as where Congress, the Executive and the Judiciary have drawn – or should draw – the line between lawful interrogation techniques and torture. Finally, the speakers addressed the process due to enemy combatants under the MCA, the Constitution and traditional norms of military justice, and whether the MCA departs from the usual safeguards inherent to military commissions conducted under the Uniform Code of Military Justice and related court-martial procedures. Notably, several lawsuits have already been filed challenging various provisions of the MCA, in particular, the section denying any federal court jurisdiction to hear a writ of habeas corpus filed by a detainee.
