Why we are here

[Lynne Henderson]

Very thoughtful , helpful and good.  I am lucky because Con Law fits well
with this and so much else,  so I have  made my little attempts . . . and
plan to continue whre I can, and this provides new themes. . .
I hope your friends are all right, and if not, my deepest sympathy.
Best
Lynne
.At 09:34 AM 09/13/2001 -0700, you wrote:
>Colleagues,
>
>I returned to teaching yesterday, after spending Tuesday tracking
>down loved ones in New York -- an experience that I know we all
>shared.  Returning to the classroom was very difficult for me.  I had to
>explain to myself, to say nothing of my students, what we were doing
>speaking about renvoi and other matters that suddenly seemed so
>inapposite.  I wound up spending the entire class discussing with my
>students the answer that I found.  In hopes that it might be useful, I
>offer it here.
>
>Our students are doing more in law school than learning the tools of
>a trade, and we are doing more than inducting them into a
>profession.  Our students are learning how to become informed
>participants in conversations about important public issues.  Now,
>more than ever, our students must have a sense of the civic
>importance of that role.  The consequences of Tuesday's attack will
>be of a breadth and magnitude impossible to measure.  Despite their
>immeasurability, however, those consequences will not be
>unprecedented.  We have a context in which to understand them.
>
>If, as appears, the attack was executed by terrorists from Arabic
>countries, we will undoubtedly see calls for racial profiling in
>immigration, domestic security protocols, and employment in key
>industries.  We have seen this before, among Japanese-Americans
>in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor.  It was understandable
>then, and would be understandable now, to grasp for security at the
>expense of minority interests.  And yet we rightly view the
>undifferentiated targeting of Japanese-Americans for discrimination,
>isolation and imprisonment as one of the most shameful episodes
>of our century, even considering the extraordinary context in which it
>occurred.
>
>"Cells" of terroists, operating domestically, may become the focus of
>domestic intelligence and security efforts.  This may be both
>necessary and appropriate.  But it carries a terrible danger of chilling
>legitimate advocacy of interests associated with Arabic and Islamic
>communities, both here and abroad.  It is not so difficult to imagine
>government investigators, engaged in good-faith efforts to protect our
>safety, beginning to ask, "Are you now, or have you ever been, a
>member of a pro-Palestinian organization," with the result that people
>will become afraid to express support for Arabic and Islamic
>communities in public debate.  We have seen this before, among
>supporters of alternative forms of governance during the McCarthy
>era, when "cells" of militant communists were beileved to be the
>domestic threat, and we rightly view that era as one of the most
>damaging to free speech values in America, even considering the
>period of tension and danger in which it took place.
>
>In the coming months and years, enormous financial interests will be
>in flux as the markets, the insurance industry and others react to what
>has happened.  Individual States will quickly come under pressure to
>provide for and protect local interests and citizens.  Difficult questions
>will arise about how to strike a balance between state and federal
>regulation; or between protection of local interests and protection of
>integrity and strength at the national level.  We have addressed these
>questions before, in fields ranging from conflicts to federal
>jurisdiction to securities policy.
>
>There is no question that we are entering a very difficuilt time.  During
>such a time, there must be a population of Americans participating in
>conversations -- in government, in business, in churches, and in
>private -- who can offer this legal and historical context.  There must
>be a population who can remind us of the difficult lessons that we
>have learned in the past in balancing security and justice in times of
>crisis, and insist that those lessons be taken into account when
>shaping future policies.  Beyond the bare question of security, this is
>what it really means to maintain the rule of law.
>
>I needed to be reminded, yesterday, that it is my job to teach those
>lessons.  And my students needed to understand that there is a civic
>purpose to the lessons that they are learning; a civic purpose, beyond
>the mere reestablishment of normal routines, to their continued
>attendance in Securities, Constitutional Law and Civil Procedure
>during these difficult days.
>
>The class that I spent discussing these issues with my students was
>difficult, but important.  I hope our experience may be of use to some
>of you.  Best wishes.
>
>-- Tobias