Course Section | Columbia Law School

Section Description Provided by Instructor

The theoretical issues in the course encompass the nature of war, the power of presidency to use military measures without a congressional declaration of war, the constitutional problems posed by military tribunals, the application of the Constitution abroad, and the constitutionality of governmental actions in pending cases. At the time of this writing, the critical issues in pending cases are those posed by the foreign detainees in Guantanamo and the detentions of citizens without access to counsel. The course will take a comparative perspective and consider how other countries facing terrorist threats respond in shaping the law of detention and of criminal liability.