DETENTION IN THE WAR AGAINST TERRORISM (2) (PBL150 and PBL151)

Professor Stephen Ellmann
The central focus of this course will be on US detention policies and practices in Afghanistan, and in particular on the continued development of a website – initiated in the 2010-11 class of this same name – to collect and make available up-to-date information on this issue. Students will work on researching relevant facts about our detention policies and practices, a potentially challenging task. They will also work on identifying and mastering relevant law bearing on such issues as who can be detained, for how long, under what conditions, and with what procedural protections; the sources of law to be examined may include US constitutional law, statutory provisions and cases, as well as international and Afghan materials. Just as important, members of the class will work on assembling the factual and legal materials they have identified and presenting them in accessible ways on the site. Another important part of students’ work will be in writing their own posts/commentary on issues they identify in this field. While each member of the class will have individual responsibilities, the class is meant to function as a group project, in which members of the class will read and edit each other’s work and will as needed make group decisions about website issues.
Co-requisite: Constitutional Law