University at Buffalo Law School's lecture on habeas corpus March 21

Daily Record (Rochester, NY), Mar 9, 2007 by Daily Record

U.S. District Court, District of Columbia Judge James Robertson will deliver the University at Buffalo Law School's annual Mitchell Lecture at 11 a.m. on March 21 in Lippes Concert Hall, Slee Hall, UB North (Amherst) Campus.

In a talk entitled "Quo Vadis Habeas Corpus?," Judge Robertson will discuss the history of habeas corpus, the "Great Writ," and examine some modern and controversial efforts to restrict its use. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Appointed to the federal bench in 1994, Judge Robertson has played a significant role in cases involving infringement of constitutional protections.

In November 2004, he issued the initial decision in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, granting a Guantanamo Bay detainee's petition for a writ of habeas corpus, a decision that was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2006.

Upon remand of the case, Judge Robertson ruled in December 2006 that the Military Commissions Act, which Congress passed following the high court's decision, stripped the federal courts of jurisdiction to hear habeas petitions of Guantanamo Bay detainees, precluding further consideration of Hamdan's petition. That decision is being appealed.

Judge Robertson served on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for more than three years, stepping down in December 2005 the Bush administration's disclosure of the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance program. In March 2006, in a letter to the Senate Committee then considering a bill to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), Judge Robertson argued that the program should be presented to the FISA court for review.

"Seeking judicial approval for government activities that implicate Constitutional protections is, of course, the American way," he wrote.

Before he was appointed to the bench, Judge Robertson worked as a civil rights lawyer in Mississippi, practiced law with Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering and served as president of the District of Columbia Bar. He also served as co-chairman of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and is a past president of Southern Africa Legal Services and the Legal Education Project, Inc.

UB Law School Professor Robert J. Steinfeld, Roger and Karen Jones Faculty Scholar and chairman of the 2007 Mitchell Lecture committee, said the subject of Judge Robertson's lecture is especially timely.

He "will be addressing one of the most important constitutional issues facing the country today," Steinfeld said. "To what extent Congress may restrict habeas corpus without infringing the constitution is a question of the deepest importance."

The James McCormick Mitchell Lecture was endowed in 1950 in honor of its namesake, an 1897 graduate of the UB Law School. It has been delivered annually since 1951.