Seattle Journal for Social Justice Volume 6 Issue 1 Fall/Winter 2007 Article 25 November 2007 Presidential Authority Transcript Charles Swift Bruce Fein Chief Judge Robert Lasnik Jules Lobel Deborah Pearlstein & Robert Turner Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/sjsj Recommended Citation Swift, Charles; Fein, Bruce; Lasnik, Chief Judge Robert; and Deborah Pearlstein & Robert Turner, Jules Lobel (2007) "Presidential Authority Transcript," Seattle Journal for Social Justice: Vol. 6 : Iss. 1 , Article 25. Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/sjsj/vol6/iss1/25 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Publications and Programs at Seattle University School of Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Seattle Journal for Social Justice by an authorized editor of Seattle University School of Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. 23 A Forum on Presidential Authority INTRODUCTION The Presidential Authority Forum took place at Seattle University School of Law on November 3, 2006. Six panelists convened to discuss issues of presidential authority that have emerged from the actions of the Bush administration. Many Americans, particularly those in the legal profession, hold a great reverence for the rule of law and the notion that no individual is immune from the protections or the constraints of the law. However, when the safety of our nation is threatened, fear dominates, and it is in this climate that our adherence to the rule of law is tested. The panelists addressed the law pertaining to a wide range of topics, including the holding of detainees at Guantánamo Bay, the treatment and interrogation of enemy combatants, torture, National Security Agency surveillance programs, the Military Commissions Act of 2006, Combatant Status Review Tribunals, and the role of Congress and the judiciary in upholding the rule of law.