ACS News & Announcements
About Issue Briefs
In order to inform law and policy discourse on a wide variety of topics, ACS regularly distributes Issue Briefs from experts in various legal fields. These papers, usually 10-20 pages, are widely distributed and written in terms accessible to legal professionals, policymakers, and the general public. Anyone interested in writing an Issue Brief should contact C21(at)ACSLaw.org.
Voices Against Torture: Writers and Lawyers on the Way Forward
On Tuesday, December 16, 2008, ACS and the PEN American Center will host a panel featuring writers and lawyers discussing their work and its relationship to combating torture. This evening of law and literature examines the roles that lawyers and writers have played, and continue to play, in exposing human rights abuses and in reminding nations of their human rights responsibilities. As lawyers have fought for legal rights to be enforced, writers have awakened the consciences of nations, reminding citizens of the values that undergird rights. This moderated conversation will bring together novelists, journalists, legal advocates, and scholars.
The panel will feature:
- Moderator, Dahlia Lithwick, Senior Editor, Slate
- Anouar Benmalek, Author of The Lovers of Algeria and Co-founder of The Algerian Committee Against Torture
- Scott Horton, Professor of Law, Columbia Law School, and Contributor to Harper's Magazine
- Elisa Massimino, Executive Director and C.E.O. of Human Rights First
- Jane Mayer, Author of The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals and Staff Writer for The New Yorker
The panel will begin promptly at 6:30 p.m. and will end at 7:45 p.m., followed by a wine and cheese reception. This event is free and open to the public.
6:30 pm-8:30 pm
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Judson Memorial Church
55 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012
Human Rights in the United States: Domestic Application of International Human Rights Law
As we approach the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, lawyers and advocates across the United States are increasingly using international human rights language, standards, and mechanisms in their domestic rights work in the United States. A lively panel discussion examined this growing movement, exploring current efforts to bridge the divide between civil rights and human rights in the U.S. domestic context. Panelists also discussed opportunities and challenges for the future of human rights in the United States. The panel addressed human rights strategies on a range of issues, including reproductive rights, health care, counter-terrorism, immigration, and racial discrimination. This panel features several contributing authors of a three-volume book project entitled Bringing Human Rights Home (Praeger Perspectives 2008).
The panel featured:
- Ajamu Baraka, Executive Director, U.S. Human Rights Network
- Wendy Patten, Senior Policy Analyst, The Open Society Institute
- Leonard Rubenstein, President, Physicians for Human Rights; and Jennings Randolph Senior Fellow, United States Institute of Peace
- Cynthia Soohoo, Director, Domestic Legal Program, Center for Reproductive Rights
- Moderator, Elizabeth Andersen, Executive Director, American Society of International Law
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
American Society of International Law
2223 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Pleasant Grove City, Utah v. Summum
Thursday, November 6, 2008, ACS hosted a press briefing on Pleasant Grove City, Utah v. Summum, a case that will be argued next week before the United States Supreme Court which addresses whether the city of Pleasant Grove violated the First Amendment rights of Summum, a religious organization whose members believe in the “Seven Aphorisms of Summum” as part of their faith, when the city refused to display the group’s proposed Seven Aphorisms monument in a public park that contained other privately donated but government-owned monuments. Experts and advocates from a variety of perspectives offered their analysis of the First Amendment Freedom of Speech and Establishment Clause issues implicated in the case, and previewed some of the points likely to be raised when the Supreme Court hears oral argument on Wednesday, November 12, 2008.
The panel featured:
Human Rights At Home: A Domestic Policy Blueprint for the New Administration
On Thursday, October 30, ACS released Human Rights at Home: A Domestic Policy Blueprint for the New Administration, authored by Professor Catherine Powell of Fordham Law School, and co-hosted, along with the Center for American Progress and The Opportunity Agenda, a panel discussion of the Blueprint and the issues it raises. The Blueprint lays out a series of recommendations for ensuring that the next Administration will honor the United States' commitment to human rights not only overseas but at home, in U.S. domestic policy. It points to the relevance of human rights principles to domestic issues such as: inequalities in access to housing, education, jobs, and health care; the application of the death penalty; and the prohibition of torture. Professor Powell argues that by enhancing attention to human rights at home -- by, for example, revitalizing an executive branch Interagency Working Group on Human Rights and establishing a national Human Rights Commission -- the United States will be in a stronger position both to secure justice at home and to bolster the nation's moral authority to lead other nations by example. The panel, featuring prominent human rights experts, discussed the Blueprint recommendations and their implications, and also presented new polling data on how the public and U.S. policymakers view human rights.
The panel featured:
- Alan Jenkins, Executive Director, The Opportunity Agenda
- Harold Hongju Koh, Dean of Yale Law School and Gerard C. and Bernice Latrobe Smith Professor of International Law
- Catherine Powell, Associate Professor of Law, Fordham Law School
- Moderator, Bill Schulz, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
