In a Documentary Companion to Storming the Court
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Discussion Questions for Storming the Court and Chapter One, “Introduction,” in A Documentary Companion to Storming the Court. 1. Identify the following people and the role they played in the events of Storming the Court:: Yvonne Pascal Antenor Joseph Jean-Bertrand Aristide Raoul Cedras Evans Paul Harold Koh Michael Ratner Lisa Daugaard Tory Clawson Steve Roos Michael Barr Graham Boyd Sarah Cleveland Paul Sonn Mike Wishnie Ira Kurzband Simpson, Thacher and Bartlett Dr. Frantz Guerrier Gene McNary Jennifer Klein Joe Tringali Robert Rubin Bob Begleiter Scott Dunn Jack Weinstein Eugene Nickerson Sterling Johnson, Jr. Michelle Anderson Claudel Pierre Steven Valentine Pierre Charles Jim Carlson Ray Brescia Guido Calabresi Paul Cappuccio Lucas Guttentag Evelyne Longchamp Decoste Veillard Marie Zette Page 1 of 11 Marcus Antoine Vilsaint Michel Wilson Edouard Donna Hrinak Dudley Sipprelle Elliot Schrage Kenneth Starr Lauri Filppu Stephen Kinder Adrien Marcel Ronald Auborg William Broberg Betty Williams Walter Dellinger Adam Gutride Kathleen Sullivan Donna Shalala Michael Cardozo Jesse Jackson Thomas McLarty Lamar Smith Maureen Mahoney Bernard Nussbaum Webster Hubell Fritznell Camy Yanick Mondesir Ellen Powers Ellen Sue Shapiro Margaret Pierre Dr. Robert Cohen Dr. Douglas Shenson Dr. Jonathan Mann Bud Paulson Joe Trimble Jason Dillman 2. What political event in Haiti gave rise to the army coup? 3. What should the role of the U.S. government be in a situation like Haiti’s in 1991? 4. Why did the U.S. decide to send military ships to bring Haitian refugees back to Haiti? Page 2 of 11 5. Why were Haitian refugees treated differently by the U.S. government than refugees from Kuwait or Lebanon? 6. What agreement did the Reagan government make with the Haitian dictator Duvalier? Why do you suppose? 7. Newly elected President Bush (the first) criticized Hong Kong for sending boat people who had escaped from Communist Vietnam back there. Is that any different than the U.S. sending political refugees back to Haiti? 8. What was Ratner’s “spotlight” theory of litigation? Do you agree? 9. Why did Professor Koh and Ratner choose to file their lawsuit in the Eastern District of New York? 10. Who did Ratner find to be the plaintiffs in this case? 11. Where did the law students get their original information on the situation in Guantanamo? What was that information? 12. What was the “HIV rule”? Where did it come from? How did Koh decide to handle this aspect of the case? What was Lisa Daugaard’s position/reaction? 13. What procedural device did the law students use to try to get the federal judge they wanted to hear the case? Who was that judge? Why did they want him? 14. What argument did the government’s lawyers make against Koh starting this case with a TRO? With what result? 15. At the very first hearing, the government’s lawyers argued that the students’ case was barred by res judicata. How does that argument work? 16. What was the “Affirmation of Michelle Anderson”? What did it say? How did Anderson put it together? What role did it play in the litigation? 17. What argument did the government make the next day, at the second hearing, about the rights of the Haitians on Guantanamo? 18. The government filed a Motion for Sanctions as one of its first responses to the law students’ suit. What is a Motion for Sanctions? How does it work? What arguments did the government make to back up this motion? 19. Ratner thought that Professor Koh was overreacting to the motion for sanctions. Why? How did Koh see the motion? What did Koh do to inform the university of this motion? How was the university even involved? Page 3 of 11 20. What did Judge Johnson rule on the students’ request for the TRO? What effect did that have on the Rule 11 sanctions motion? 21. Who from the plaintiffs’ side made the first trip to Guantanamo? Who accompanied them on the plane? Who did they interview in Guantanamo? What did they find out there that was useful to the case? 22. Professor Koh sends Tory Clawson to Miami on a special mission. What was it? What did Tory find out in Miami? How was it useful to the case? 23. Compare the arguments that Professor Koh and Paul Cappuccio made at the hearing before Judge Johnson regarding the lifting of the TRO. What error did Cappuccio make regarding Bertrand v. Sava? Who pointed that out? 24. What did Judge Johnson rule on the government’s request that he lift his stay barring the government from returning screened-in Haitians to Haiti and halting the asylum hearing process? How did he rule on the First and Fifth Amendment questions? What did he rule about access to the Haitians? Finally, what did his ruling do to the previous TRO? 25. What was Cappuccio’s response to Judge Johnson’s ruling? 26. What was the “magnet effect” argument that Steven Valentine made to the 2d Circuit? What was Koh’s response? What was the 2d Circuit’s decision? What did Lisa Daugaard think of the 2d Circuit panel of judges? 27. What was Cappuccio’s response to the 2d Circuit’s ruling? 28. What was the “Hrinak Declaration”? What did it say? What was it used for? Was Cappuccio within the rules in his use of the declaration? 29. What was Professor Koh’s response to Cappuccio’s use of the Hrinak Declaration? 30. What was the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on Cappuccio’s motion? Which Justice was the deciding vote on the Court? What law school did that Justice attend? 31. What actions did the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision lead to on Guantanamo? What is the difference in INS speak between a “credible fear” of persecution and a “well- founded” fear? Do we know what happened to the Haitians as a result of the Supreme Court’s decision? 32. Why did Koh reject the habeas corpus petition idea of the students? What is a habeas corpus petition? (Don’t guess. Look it up in your legal dictionary or online at http://www.thefreedictionary.com.) Page 4 of 11 33. Mike Wishnie was worried about the fate of Franz Guerrier. Why? What action could the 2d Circuit have taken that would have helped Guerrier? Did it? What happened when Guerrier was returned to Haiti? What was his ultimate fate? 34. What steps did the Bush administration take to address the 2d Circuit’s decision in terms of the students’ access to their clients? On what basis? 35. What was the purpose of Camp Bulkeley? What were the living conditions like there? 36. What story did the government come up with about Marie Zette? What was the source? What effect did it have on the students’ case? 37. What change in policy did the Bush administration make at the end of May 1992 in terms of how it would handle Haitian refugees stopped on the high seas by American military forces? Was this policy in compliance with the UN Refugee Convention of 1951 that the US had signed? Why or why not? Do you think the students’ lawsuit had anything to do with this change of policy? What action did Professor Koh take once this new policy was announced? 38. May 1992 was the start of the presidential election campaign season. Did the Haitian refugee situation come up in the campaign? If so, how? What position did Bill Clinton, Bush’s Democratic opponent, take? 39. Explain the term “floating Berlin Wall.” Who came up with it? For what purpose? What was the “Kennebunkport order’? Who came up with it? For what purpose? 40. Restate Professor Koh’s argument to the court about the Bush administration’s new policy toward Haitian refugees on the high seas? 41. What arguments did Kenneth Starr make to Judge Johnson in favor of the government? Of what relevance were Article 33 of the UN Convention and the Refugee Act according to Starr? 42. Of what relevance were the circumstances of the ship St. Louis to this case? By the way, what were those circumstances? (The online Holocaust Encyclopedia is a good place to look.) 43. What decision did Judge Johnson reach after hearing the Koh-Starr arguments? On what basis? 44. What was the “fire hose” riot? Describe its circumstances. What was the Camp VII riot? Describe its circumstances. Page 5 of 11 45. At one point, there were over 12,000 Haitians on Guantanamo at one time, and more than 35,000 passed through there. What happened to most of them? 46. Judge Johnson’s opinion on Bush’s new return policy was appealed to the Second Circuit where Koh and Starr argued the case. Describe their arguments and the Second Circuit’s reaction to them. What was the Second Circuit’s decision? 47. The Second Circuit’s decision on Bush’s return policy was immediately appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. What was the Supreme Court’s reaction? 48. By the fall of 1992, at the start of the new school year, the law students at the Lowenstein Clinic had two law suits going on against the federal government. Describe both of these lawsuits and their status that fall. Why did the students think that they might not have to go back to court at all? 49. Describe the Filppu-Trigali argument at the status conference before Judge Johnson. What positions did each take? Why? Who was more credible? 50. After that pre-trial conference Cappuccio on behalf of the government made an offer of settlement to Ratner.