Written Congressional Testimony of Stephen Schulhofer

Professor Stephen Schulhofer writes to Congress to denounce the current handling of detention cases. He outlines solutions to “put the Guantánamo nightmare behind us,” emphasizing the importance of adhering to existing systems of Democracy and Human Rights in order to regain the respect of other nations and, in particular, to defuse the greater Muslim community’s distrust of the United States. Prof. Schulhofer discusses the danger posed to the Constitution and criminal justice procedures when the definition of an “enemy combatant” extends to those who present a potential threat on “metaphorical battlefields.” This has placed several hundred individuals in captivity at Guantánamo for insubstantial reasons. Mr. Schulhofer addresses the forces that have driven the current national security measures, such as the desire to err on the side of security to avoid terrorist attack, and asserts that these concerns must be replaced with trust that the established Constitutional systems are both effective and appropriate for the challenges at hand.

Stephen Schulhofer is currently a Robert B. McKay professor of law at NYU Law School. He specializes in Criminal law procedure and has appeared in many publications such as the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Harvard Law Review, and American Criminal Law Review. Professor Schulhofer sits on the Board of the Brennan Center for Justice.