Wednesday, December 17, 2003

Speaker biographies

Barry Sullivan (moderator) is a partner in the firm of Jenner & Block, where he is co-chair of the firm's Appellate and Supreme Court Practice group.  He rejoined Jenner & Block in 2001, after serving as Vice-President, Dean, and Professor of Law at Washington and Lee University.  He began his legal career as law clerk to Judge John Minor Wisdom of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and subsequently served as an Assistant to the Solicitor General of the United States.  Barry was Chair of the American Bar Association AIDS Coordinating Committee from 1988 to 1994 and has served on the Council of the Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities and as a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Amicus Curiae Briefs.  He currently serves on the Standards Review Committee of the Section of Legal Education.

Hon. Michael Chertoff has been a member of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit since June 2003.  A former law clerk to Judge Murray Gurfein of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and to former U. S. Supreme Court Associate Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., Judge Chertoff was Assistant U. S. Attorney General, Criminal Division, from 2001 to 2003, Special Counsel for the Whitewater Committee of the U. S. Senate from 1994 to 1996, and U. S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey from 1990 to 1994.  From 1983 to 1990, he was Assistant and First Assistant U. S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey.

David D. Cole is Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center, a volunteer staff attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights, the legal affairs correspondent for The Nation, and a commentator on National Public Radio's All Things Considered.  He has litigated many First Amendment cases, including Texas v. Johnson and United States v. Eichman, which extended First Amendment protection to flag burning.  He is the author of Enemy Aliens: Double Standards and Constitutional Freedoms in the War on Terrorism (2003), Terrorism and the Constitution: Sacrificing Civil Liberties in the Name of National Security (2002), and No Equal Justice: Race and Class in the American Criminal Justice System (1999).  

Elisa C. Massimino is Director of the Washington, D. C. office of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights.  She is the Lawyers Committee's chief advocacy strategist, a national authority on refugee law and policy, and an expert on a range of international human rights issues.  Before joining the Lawyers Committee in 1991, Elisa taught philosophy at several universities in Michigan before embarking on a second career in law.  She has taught refugee and asylum law at George Washington University School of Law and international human rights law at the University of Virginia School of Law.

Hon. Patricia M. Wald is Chair of the Open Society Justice Initiative and a member of the Constitution Project's Liberty and Security Initiative.  From 1999-2001, she served as a judge on the 14-member panel in the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, to which she was appointed by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.  She previously served as Chief Judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and as Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs in the Department of Justice.  She is a council member and former Vice President of the American Law Institute.  Judge Wald has traveled and consulted with Eastern European judicial and legal organizations for CEELI-American Bar Association. Her published works are extensive including articles on judicial administration, women's rights, international and comparative law, legislative history, criminal procedure, juvenile law, administrative law (environmental review), judicial ethics and mental health law.

Ruth Wedgwood is Edward B. Burling Professor of International Law and Diplomacy and Director of the International Law and Organization Program of The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).  She is an internationally recognized expert on international crimes and tribunals, international law, peacekeeping, strategic and security issues, terrorism, U. S. Congress and foreign policy, the United Nations, and use of force.  She is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and an adviser to the U. S. Department of Defense on the issue of military tribunals in response to the September 11 crisis.  She also is the incoming Director of Studies at The Hague Academy for International Law in the Netherlands and formerly served on the board of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights. 

John Yoo is Professor of Law at the University of California at Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall), where he has taught since 1993.  A visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, he was a visiting Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School this fall.  From 2001 to 2003, Yoo served as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel of the U. S. Department of Justice, where he worked on issues involving foreign affairs, national security, and the separation of powers.  He is a former law clerk to Judge Laurence H. Silberman of the U. S. Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia Circuit and to U. S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas.  He also has served as General Counsel of the U. S. Senate Judiciary Committee.

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