Constitutional experts debate freedoms in a post 9-11 society

Jennifer Knight

Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2003 | 9:57 a.m.

Two nationally recognized constitutional experts took their ongoing debate to a UNLV classroom Monday, where they discussed the political fallout of anti-terrorism policies in the United States.

University of Southern California law professor Erwin Chemerinsky and his legal sparring partner, John C. Eastman of Chapman University School of Law, debate each other weekly on a nationally syndicated radio show called "The Hour of Law."

As is usually the case, they rarely agreed during Monday's debate on any of the Bush administration's policies adopted after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Chemerinsky said since then U.S. officials have created an environment of unprecedented secrecy and invasion of privacy. He pointed out the government's detention of an estimated 400 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, without a hearing or military tribunal.

"There is no case in U.S. history that says that by labeling someone an enemy combatant, you can hold that prisoner forever," Chemerinsky said.

Eastman said the detentions are justifiable under international rules of war.

"The mere detention of those folks in Guantanamo Bay certainly follows international laws of war," Eastman said. "We are incarcerating them and taking them from the field of battle so they cannot continue to wage war against us."

The student-sponsored event brought the two legal experts to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, law school for a 90-minute debate to educate students about new, post-Sept. 11 legislation.

"I thought it was a very good example for students of how thoughtful and articulate people can disagree in a very meaningful and polite way," Richard Morgan, dean of the Boyd School of Law, said.

The two disagreed on the issue of government wiretapping, with Eastman agreeing that it was appropriate in some cases, and Chemerinsky calling such policies in the realm of "Big Brother."

Chemerinsky used historical events such as the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II and the McCarthy hearings in the 1950s as cautionary tales of what can happen when a nation overreacts.

"Whenever the U.S. has faced a crisis, the response has been repression," Chemerinsky said. "But history tells us we weren't made any safer that way."

Liberty is a right that should not be extended to our enemies, Eastman countered.

"A nation attacked by any such enemies is not treated with any such liberty," Eastman said.