Chemerinsky Presents Foulston Siefkin Lecture
Watch the 2005 Foulston Siefkin Lecture (54 minutes) (requires Windows Media Player)
Professor Erwin Chemerinsky, Duke University School of Law, presented the 27th Annual Foulston Siefkin Lecture on Friday, March 4, 2005. Professor Chemerinsky's lecture "Civil Liberties and the War on Terror" will appear as the lead article in the first issue of volume 45 of the Washburn Law Journal in Fall 2005.
Professor Chemerinsky argued in his lecture that the United States' security policies since 9/11 are impairing constitutional freedoms, but are not making us any safer. He first addressed how the Bush administration has used "enemy combatant" status to detain hundreds of suspected terrorists for several years while not charging them with a crime. Next, Chemerinsky asserted that the war on terror has spawned an unprecedented level of secrecy, from the government's refusal to reveal how many people it has detained, to holding secret criminal trials of suspected terrorists. Finally, he criticized the USA PATRIOT Act, which allows federal agents to subpoena personal information, conduct electronic eavesdropping, and issue roving wiretap warrants without probable cause.
Chemerinsky argued that recent security policies are an example of history repeating itself. He noted that, throughout history, whenever the United States faces a foreign-based crisis, the response is repression of individual freedoms. Chemerinsky cited examples of past repression, including the Alien and Sedition Act of 1789, the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus during the Civil War, the evacuation of Japanese-Americans into internment camps during World War II, and the McCarthy Era of the 1950s. Chemerinsky argued that recent security policies merely continue this historic trend.
In closing, Chemerinsky noted that no freedoms are absolute. If abridging individual freedoms is essential for national security and less-restrictive means are not available, then the government should be free to take appropriate measures to defend the nation. However, Chemerinsky noted that recent security policies are too restrictive and do not make the United States safer.
Erwin Chemerinsky is the Alston & Bird Professor of Law at Duke University School of Law. Between 1983 and 2004, he was a professor at the University of Southern California Law School, where he was the Sydney M. Irmas Professor of Public Interest Law, Legal Ethics, and Political Science.
Chemerinsky graduated with honors from Northwestern University (B.S., 1975), and Harvard Law School (J.D., 1978). He was a trial attorney at the United States Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., and an attorney at Dobrovir, Oakes, and Gebhardt, in Washington, D.C. He has taught at DePaul, Duke, Loyola of Los Angeles, and UCLA Law Schools.
Professor Chemerinsky is the author of four books: Federal Jurisdiction (Aspen Law & Business 4th ed. 2003) (a one volume treatise on federal courts); Constitutional Law: Principles and Policies (Aspen Law & Business 2d ed. 2002) (a one volume treatise on constitutional law); Constitutional Law (Aspen Law & Business 2001) (a casebook); Interpreting the Constitution (Praeger 1987). He is also author of over 100 law review articles that have appeared in journals such as the Harvard Law Review, Michigan Law Review, Northwestern Law Review, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Stanford Law Review and Yale Law Journal. Recent articles include, "The Constitution and Punishment," forthcoming Stanford Law Review (2004); "Entrenchment of Ordinary Legislation: A Response to Professors Posner and Vermeule," 91 California Law Review 1773 (2003) (with John Roberts); "The Rhetoric of Constitutional Law," 100 Michigan Law Review 2008 (2002); and "Against Sovereign Immunity," 53 Stanford Law Review 1201 (2001). He writes a regular column on the Supreme Court for California Lawyer, Los Angeles Daily Journal, and Trial Magazine, and is a frequent contributor to newspapers and other magazines.
He frequently argues appellate cases, including in the United States Supreme Court and the United States Courts of Appeals. For example, Chemerinsky recently argued Lockyer v. Andrade in the United States Supreme Court, a challenge to the application of California's three strikes law on behalf of an individual who had been sentenced to 50 years to life in prison for stealing $153 worth of videotapes. He has testified many times before committees of the United States Congress, the California Legislature, and the Los Angeles City Council.
Chemerinsky was elected by the voters in April 1997 to serve a two year term as a member of the Elected Los Angeles Charter Reform Commission. He served as Chair of the Commission, which proposed a new Charter for the City which was adopted by the voters in June 1999. Also, he served as a member of the Governor's Task Force on Diversity in 1999-2000. In September 2000, he released a report on the Los Angeles Police Department and the Rampart Scandal, which was prepared at the request of the Los Angeles Police Protective League. In 2004, Chemerinsky was named by Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn to chair a blue ribbon commission on contracting by the city government.
Since 1978, the Foulston Siefkin Lecture has been sponsored by the Wichita law firm of Foulston Siefkin LLP to enrich the quality of education at Washburn University School of Law. This lecture series brings a prominent legal scholar to Washburn Law to challenge and enhance the legal thinking of our students, faculty, and the Washburn Law Journal readership. Articles derived from the Foulston Siefkin Lecture are published in the Washburn Law Journal.
Professor Chemerinsky lecturing in Professor Mary Ramirez's Criminal Procedure class.
Edward Robinson contributed the summary of Professor Chemerinsky's lecture to this article.
