On Friday, October 12, 2012, at NAFUSA’s national conference in Atlanta, Deputy Solicitor General Michael R. Dreeben, shown above with Attorney General Holder, will present the annual review of the United States Supreme Court term which will end in June. Dreeben has served more than 24 years in the Department of Justice. His principal responsibility is federal criminal appellate law. He has argued more than 80 cases before the United States Supreme Court, and numerous cases in the courts of appeals, including en banc arguments in nine circuits. He has twice received the Department of Justice’s second highest award- the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service. He is a graduate of Duke Law School.
NAFUSA President Rick Deane has announced early plans for the NAFUSA annual conference to be held in Atlanta, Georgia, October 11-13, 2012. The conference will be held at the W Atlanta Downtown, and will begin with a cocktail reception on Thursday evening, October 11, at the East Lake Golf Club, the home course of legendary golfer Bobby Jones and the oldest golf course in Atlanta.
Golf will be available at East Lake on the afternoon of October 11, beginning at noon. Price per player will be $273.45, which includes taxes. Gratuties are not permitted. Although the golf fees are high, East Lake is private, historic, caddie only and the NAFUSA golfers will be playing the course the week following the FEDEX Tour Championship, which consists of the top 30 players for the year, one of whom will be declared the player of the year. Proceeds from the course support the East Lake foundation efforts to enrich the lives of the children of the neighborhood. These children now have a charter school, a resident golf pro for kids, a golf academy and their own outstanding neighborhood golf course. Details will be published soon as to how to sign up for golf.
The conference will continue at the W Hotel with continuing education programs on Friday and Saturday mornings. Charlie Savage, shown above, of The New York Times has agreed to join us for the third year in a row, and will moderate a two hour panel on immigration issues on Saturday morning. He is a Washington correspondent for The Times. Savage covered national legal affairs for the Boston Globe from 2003 to 2008. He received a Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 2007. His book about the growth of executive power, “Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of American Democracy,” was named one of the best books of 2007 by both Slate and Esquire.
Joining Savage on the immigration panel will be Alejandro (“Ali”) Mayorkas, right, the Director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) at the Department of Homeland Security. He was nominated by President Obama and confirmed unanimously by the Senate on August 7, 2009. Mayorkas leads the agency charged with operating the largest immigration system in the world, with a workforce of more than 18,000. He served as the United States Attorney for the Central District of California 1999-2001 and is a member of NAFUSA. Prior to becomming the Director of USCIS, Mayorkas was a partner in the law firm of O’Melveny & Myers LLP. He is a graduate of Loyola Law School.
On Friday afternoon, a luncheon will be held at The Carter Center . The conference will conclude with a Saturday evening cocktail reception and dinner at the W Hotel.
At the New York NAFUSA conference in 2010, New York Times reporter Charlie Savage moderated a panel discussion on the appropriate forum in which to prosecute terrorism cases. A lively debate ensued as to whether such cases should be brought in Article III courts in the United States or before military tribunals. The panel included NAFUSA member Captain David Iglesias, shown below, currently a military commissions prosecutor in Guantanamo. His earlier experiences as a Navy JAG at Guantanamo was the inspiration for Aaron Sorkin’s play “A Few Good Men,” later a successful movie. Iglesias served as the United States Attorney in New Mexico 2001-2007. He is the author of “In Justice: Inside the Scandal That Rocked the Bush Administration.”
In a Times article on February 23, 2012, entitled Iraqi Prisoner Tied to Hezbollah Faces U.S. Military Charges, Savage reports on an interesting new development. The United States has approved military commission charges against a Lebanese man accused of helping kill U.S. military troops in Iraq. Never before has the government used the current military commission approach against a defendant who is not accused of being part of the war with Al Qaeda. Furthermore, the defendant remains in custody in Iraq and it is unclear whether he will be extradited to the U.S., and whether, if he is extradited, where the trial would take place. Savage previously reported on December 11, 2011, on the dilemma that faced the U.S. regarding this prisoner when the U.S. withdrew from Iraq. See Detainee Poses Dilemma For U.S. As U.S. Exit Nears.
As for foreigners suspected of being Al Qaeda operatives, the battle between the Obama administration and Congress over whether to hold such suspects in military custody or in the civilian criminal justice system continues. See the Savage article in the February 28, 2012, Times article entitled Obama Issues Waivers on Military Trials for Terror Suspects..
Bill Keller, shown left, Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times and writer for The New York Times Magazine, states in his Monday, February 20, 2012, Op-Ed column WikiLeaks, a Postscript that his “…consistent answer to the ponderous question of how WikiLeaks transformed our world has been: not all that much.”
Keller served as executive editor of The Times from 2003 until 2011, and was editor during the publication of many of the articles based upon disclosures made possible by WikiLeaks. Keller writes of having participated in at least six panel discussions regarding WikiLeaks. Keller’s column is also a good post script to the NAFUSA WikiLeaks panel held in Santa Fe in October, 2012, pictured below.
Jack Goldsmith, Ken Wainstein, Eric Snyder, Charlie Savage, Valerie Plame Wilson, Rich Rossman
At NAFUSA’s yearly conference, an expert on the United States Supreme Court presents a review of the term just ended. Adam Liptak, left, who covers the court for The New York Times, gave the presentation in New York City in 2010. In an article in today’s Times entitled Court To Weigh Arizona Statute On Immigration, Liptak writes, “In the space of a month, the Supreme Court has thrust itself into the center of American political life, agreeing to hear three major cases that could help determine which party controls the House of Representatives and whether President Obama wins a second term.”
Before the NAFUSA conference in Atlanta in October, the court will have heard the Arizona immigration case, reviewed the 2010 health care overhaul law and the Texas redistricting dispute. As Liptak points out, “…the current term may be most reminiscent of the showdown between the Supreme Court and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1936, when the court struck down major pieces of New Deal legislation as well as a New York law establishing a minimum wage for women and children.” On the other hand, Liptak says, “…the court may yet avoid creating political earthquakes.”
On Moday, January 9, 2012, the Supreme Court heard arguments on the major voting rights case from Texas. Liptak reported in The Times in an article entitled Justices Grapple With Voting Rights Case That Could Help Tip the House the case “could help decide the control of the House.”
What ever happens, the review of the 2011-2012 term at the Atlanta conference should be of considerable interest.
At the NAFUSA annual conference in October, 2010, The New York Times reporter Charlie Savage, left, moderated a two hour panel discussion on the appropriate forum in which to prosecute terrorism cases. More than a year later the national debate on this issue remains unresolved. In a front page article on December 12, 2011, Savage reports on the dilemma confronting the Obama administration on what to do with a detainee held by the American military in Iraq. Read Detainee Poses Dilemma For U.S. As It Exits Iraq.
Subsequent to the publication of the Savage article, the U.S. military turned the prisoner over to the Iraqi government
At the Santa Fe conference this past fall, the two-hour panel on WikiLeaks featured a lively discussion on whether or not there have been any serious ramifications from the extensive leaks. The debate continues and on December 8, 2011, The Wall Street Journal published an op/ed Don’t Cry for Julian Assange by Floyd Abrams, noted First Amendment lawyer. Abrams argues that Julian Assange and WikiLeaks have exhibited “persistent recklessness” in such disclosures as a classified report describing the radio-frequency jammers used in Iraq by American soldiers to cut off signals to remotely detonated explosives.
NAFUSA member Peter Vaira once again has provided detailed summaries of the conference. Click here to read Peter’s summaries of the Santa Fe conference presentations, including Steve Easton’s presentation on expert witnesses, the panel on Southwest border issues, the WikiLeaks panel and Stewart Youngs’s presentation on the Supreme Court term 2010-2011.
Luiza and Charlie Savage at the Santa Fe conference
The New York Times correspondent Charlie Savage is not the only journalist in the Savage family. Charlie’s wife, Luiza Savage, is a corresondent for Macleans.ca, the Canadian weekly news magazine. Charlie has attended the past two NAFUSA conferences. In New York City in 2010, he moderated the panel discussion on the appropriate forum in which to prosecute terrorism cases. Charlie continues to follow this still unsettled issue. See, for instance, Charlie’s October 28, 2011 article in The Times. In Santa Fe, Charlie moderated the panel on the Southwest border and was a WikiLeads panelist.
Luiza Savage accompanied Charlie to Santa Fe. She put her time to good use when she interviewed another WikiLeaks panelist, Valerie Plame Wilson, at La Posada following the panel. Luiza’s interview of Valerie Plame can be read here.
Charlie Savage and Valerie Plame Wilson on the WikiLeaks panel
At NAFUSA’s yearly conference, an expert on the United States Supreme Court presents a review of the term just ended. Adam Liptak, left, who covers the court for The New York Times, gave the presentation in New York City in 2010. In an article in today’s Times entitled 
NAFUSA member Peter Vaira once again has provided detailed summaries of the conference. 
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