Norfolk, VA– Constitutional rights experts William Van Alstyne and Julian G. Ku will square off on November 11 at Virginia Wesleyan College in a debate on presidential powers. Checks and Imbalances: The President, Congress and the Courts in the Post-9/11 World starts at 3:00 p.m. and is open to the public. Joel Rubin, host of WVEC television’s On the Record, will serve as moderator.
Said ACLU of Virginia executive director Kent Willis, “This discussion goes to the heart of perhaps the most important question before us today: Can we hold on to the fundamental freedoms that define us as a nation and still fight the threat of terrorism?”
“This is not necessarily an easy topic, but it’s a critical and compelling one, and we’re putting two extremely insightful individuals with differing views on the stage together to talk about it,” added Willis.
Mr. Van Alstyne is an internationally recognized expert on constitutional law. In 2000, he was named one of the 40 most frequently cited legal scholars in the U.S. over the last 50 years. He recently signed a widely disseminated open letter to Congress expressing opposition to the NSA’s domestic surveillance program. A former member of the National ACLU Board of Directors and longtime professor at Duke University Law School, Alstyne is currently the Lee Professor at William and Mary Law School.
Mr. Ku is a frequent speaker on the separation of powers, national security, and torture. He has also written extensively on developing international legal issues in the post- 9/11 world, including a recent article in Supreme Court Review -- co-authored with former Bush torture advisor John Yoo -- on limiting federal court jurisdiction over human rights abuses on foreign soil. An associate professor of law at Hofstra University, Ku is currently a visiting professor at William and Mary Law School.
The event is being sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia, the League of Women Voters of South Hampton Roads, and the Center for the Study of Religious Freedom at Virginia Wesleyan College.
Contacts: Kent Willis, Executive Director, ACLU of Virginia, 804/644-8022 Lynn Gordon, President, League of Women Voters of South Hampton Roads, 757/523-6278
Checks and Imbalances: The President, Congress and the Courts in the Post 9-11 World
When: Saturday, Nov. 11, 2006, 3:00-5:00 p.m.
Where: Boyd Dining Center, Virginia Wesleyan College, 1584 Wesleyan Drive, Norfolk, VA 23502
Who: William Van Alstyne and Julian Ku
Moderator : Joel Rubin
