Laura A. Dickinson, Oswald Symister Colclough Research Professor and Professor of Law, recently published a report in partnership with the American Bar Association (ABA) Standing Committee on Law and National Security on the U.S. military commissions at Guantanamo Bay. The report, "The U.S. Military Commissions: Looking Forward," was the product of a discussion among a diverse group of high-level national security experts. It addressed a range of legal and policy issues related to the future of the U.S. military commissions at Guantanamo Bay, including questions related to uncharged detainees at Guantanamo Bay, potential new entrants into the military commissions, and the implications of any new authorization to use military force on the work of the commissions.
On December 7, 2017, the ABA Standing Committee on Law and National Security and the George Washington University Law School convened a one-day workshop on the U.S. military commissions at U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay. The purpose of the invitation-only workshop was to provide a forum for expert discussion of issues that face the U.S. military commissions and to produce a non-partisan report to inform policymakers, commentators, and the public on possible paths forward in the interest of U.S. national security, law, and justice. The workshop brought together academics and policymakers to discuss some of the pressing legal and policy issues surrounding the military commissions.
Professor Dickinson served as principal rapporteur, along with ABA Standing Committee Chairman Judge James E. Baker. Of the workshop's 28 participants, nine were GW Law professors, students, or alumni. Sean D. Murphy, Manatt/Ahn Professor of International Law, participated in the workshop and was "very glad that GW Law was able to serve as the venue for bringing together such a diverse group of individuals. Our interactions were robust, thoughtful, and at times contentious, but all for the purpose of wrestling with one of the most important national security issues of our time." The working group also included Professorial Lecturers of Law Paul Lewis and General John D. Altenburg. Several alumni prominent in the national security field were present, including Geoffrey Corn, JD ‘92, Professor of Law at South Texas College of Law Houston and a leading authority on the Uniform Code of Military Justice; and Rita Siemion, JD ‘06, International Legal Counsel for Human Rights First.
Multiple GW Law students also played a key role. Garrett Mulrain, LLM ’17, was the law clerk for the ABA Standing Committee on Law and National Security at the time. When the project started, he was finishing his LLM in National Security and U.S. Foreign Relations Law. Due to these dual roles, he was brought in as a rapporteur to assist the workshop and drafting process. "Because I had experience with both co-sponsors of this project, I jumped at the chance to be involved in such a pressing legal and national security discussion," Mr. Mulrain said.
GW Law students Joy Bagwell and Brennan Kartchner, who both had taken Professor Dickinson’s course in national security law, assisted in the drafting and citation process. Ms. Bagwell, 3L, shared that working on the report will count as one of her most formative experiences at GW Law. "Getting hands-on, real-world experience drafting and substantiating footnotes for a published work definitely enhanced my legal research skills," she said. Mr. Kartchner, JD ’18, enjoyed the "outstanding team effort." "Seeing the different approaches taken in refining this publication by the different contributing parties gave me a new appreciation for the amount of work and intellectual discourse that goes into policy formation, " he said. "I gained a broader understanding of military commissions and the challenges facing them as our nation's conceptions of war and justice evolve."
Reflecting on the entire experience, Professor Dickinson remarked, "I was thrilled to be able to provide such an exciting opportunity for students—these kinds of opportunities make the GW Law experience so distinctive."