WASHINGTON - March 17 - WHAT: The Constitution Project will co-host a panel of experts with a broad spectrum of views who will discuss the legal and constitutional issues raised by President Obama's executive orders on detention and terrorism prosecutions, including potential proposals for establishing a national security court and a preventive detention regime. Human Rights First and the Georgetown Center on National Security and the Law will also co-host the discussion, entitled "Bringing Detainees to Justice and Justice to Detainees:  Remaining Questions about Detention and Trials after Obama's Executive Orders." Policy-makers from the Congress, the executive branch, and the intelligence community will be in attendance.  

WHO:

• Moderator, Stephen Vladeck, Associate Professor of Law, American University Washington College of Law
• David Laufman, former Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia who has prosecuted terrorism cases; currently attorney, Kelley Drye & Warren LLP
• Deborah Pearlstein, Associate Research Scholar in Law and Public Affairs Program, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University
• Gabor Rona, International Legal Director, Human Rights First
• Matthew Waxman, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs under President George W. Bush; currently Associate Professor of Law, Columbia Law School

WHEN: Friday, March 20, 2009, from 12:00 p.m. until 2:00 p.m. Discussion from noon until 1:30 p.m. A light lunch will be served immediately following the discussion. 

WHERE: Georgetown University Law Center, Hart Auditorium, 600 New Jersey Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. 20001.   RSVP: The event is free. Members of media RSVP to Daniel Schuman at dschuman@constitutionproject.org. All others RSVP to RSVP@constitutionproject.org. Please include your name, the number of attendees, and the words "National Security Courts Panel Discussion."  

Background: For background information, please see the Constitution Project's report "A Critique of National Security Courts," which was drafted by Stephen Vladeck for the Constitution Project's Liberty and Security Committee. Contact our communications department to arrange interviews with our in-house experts or to speak with the panelists.