The State Secrets Privilege: Time for Reform?

WHAT: American Constitution Society (ACS) is hosting a panel of distinguished experts to discuss the state secrets privilege in light of recent presidential assertions of the privilege and congressional consideration of legislation to statutorily define it.

WHO:

• Justin Florence, Fellow, Georgetown Center for National Security and Law
• Aziz Huq, Director of the Liberty and National Security Project, Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law
• Richard Samp, Chief Counsel, Washington Legal Foundation
• Michael Vatis, Partner, Steptoe & Johnson LLP; formerly Director of the National Infrastructure Protection Center at the FBI and Special Counsel at the Department of Defense
• Ben Wizner, Staff Attorney, American Civil Liberties Union
• Moderator, Jonathan Turley, Professor of Law, The George Washington University School of Law

WHY: This panel will highlight issues currently before Congress, including whether the state secrets privilege is being properly invoked and the appropriate balance of national security concerns with meaningful access to justice. The common law privilege allows the government to prevent the disclosure of information in legal proceedings that may damage national security (regardless of whether a federal agency or employee is a party to those proceedings). Some observers have maintained that valid lawsuits have been unnecessarily dismissed through abusive application of the privilege.

REGISTRATION: RSVP to press@acslaw.org by noon on Wednesday, April 2. There is no charge to attend. Lunch will be served.

The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy (ACS) is one of the nation's leading progressive legal organizations. Founded in 2001, ACS is a rapidly growing network of lawyers, law students, scholars, judges, policymakers and other concerned individuals. Our mission is to ensure that fundamental principles of human dignity, individual rights and liberties, genuine equality, and access to justice enjoy their rightful, central place in American law. The views of speakers are their own and should not be attributed to ACS. For more information about the organization, which has established student chapters at over 160 law schools around the country and lawyer chapters in more than 25 cities, please visit www.acslaw.org.

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