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Saturday Schedule
Program
Annual
Meeting
Home
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Saturday, January 4, 2003
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10:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
Section on Defamation and Privacy
Patricia Mell, Michigan State University, Chair |
Cotillion North
Marriott Wardman Park Hotel
Mezzanine Level |
Is Privacy Obsolete in a Nation Fighting Terrorism?
(Program to be published in the Law Review of Michigan State University-Detroit College of Law.)
Moderator:
Patricia Mell, Michigan State University
Speakers: - Katie Corrigan, Legislative Counsel, American Civil Liberties Union, Washington, D.C.
- Roscoe Conklin Howard, Jr., University of Kansas
- William B. T. Mock, John Marshall Law School
- Robert C. Power, Widener University
In the novel 1984, George Orwell described a world in which the individual's privacy was completely subordinated to the security of the state. In that place, the citizens had acquiesced to a system of oppressive surveillance by the government in order to live in a state secure from a dangerous, but unnamed military threat.
The events of September 11, 2001 were a clear message to the United States that its citizens were not absolutely secure. Shortly after the attacks, the United States Congress passed legislation which some say undermine the fundamental notion of privacy as guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment. The legislation was called the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA Patriot Act).
The USA Patriot Act is unprecedented in its sweeping changes to the probable cause requirement. It significantly broadens the ability of the government to collect information about U.S. citizens, but restricts the citizen's ability to collect information about the government's activities. As the Patriot Act begins to be enforced, citizens must consider the relative weight of the competing values of privacy and national security. This session will explore the tension between these values.
After a brief examination of pertinent provisions of the USA Patriot Act by Professor Mell, Ms. Corrigan will discuss the impact of the USA Patriot Act on the preservation of our traditional notions of privacy. Professor Howard, currently serving as the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, will share the government's perspective on this issue. Professor Mock will assess the dynamic informational balance between what the government knows about the people and what people know about government. Finally, Professor Power will discuss whether the Fourth Amendment can or should be reshaped by public opinion and wartime emergency.
Business Meeting at Program Conclusion
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