This summer, a cluster of proposals to change the Constitution on such issues as birthright citizenship, campaign finance and a balanced budget have captured U.S. headlines. The most politically galvanizing of these has been the suggestion that hearings be held to consider the repeal of the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In an interview for the Associated Press, CPPresident Virginia Sloan observed, “People are responding to the politics of the day, and that’s not what the framers intended. They intended exactly the opposite—that the Constitution not be used as a political tool.”
Sloan urges lawmakers to weigh any proposal to amend the Constitution by using established guidelines developed by a bipartisan group of legal scholars and practitioners published in the CP report Great and Extraordinary Occasions.
Constitution Project President Virginia E. Sloan Interviews Laurence Tribe, Senior Counselor, Access to Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, at Annual ABA Conference
2009-2010 Supreme Court Term Review:
Defining Criminality and Access to Justice
Panelists: Steve Vladeck, Virginia Sloan, Bryan Stevenson, Representative Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (D-VA)
On July 21st, the Constitution Project (CP) helped organize a congressional briefing on some of the most important criminal law cases decided during the recently concluded Supreme Court term. The cases ran the gamut from the constitutionality of the material support statute (Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project) to access to the federal courts through habeas corpus review for those convicted of capital crimes (Holland v. Florida). Moderated by CP President Virginia Sloan and hosted by Representatives Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Chairman, House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties and Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (D-VA), Chairman, House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security, the event was designed to provide members of Congress and their staff insight into reasoning and impact of these influential cases.
Federal Court Handling of Detainee Habeas Cases Focus of Hill Briefing
Panelists: Sharon Bradford Franklin, Judge Timothy K. Lewis, and Douglas K. Spaulding
Douglas K. Spaulding, counsel to several Guantánamo detainees, and U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Lewis provided the context for the controversy over federal court handling of detainee habeas cases. Constitution Project Senior Policy Counsel Sharon Bradford Franklin moderated the event attended by a capacity crowd at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center. The discussion was videotaped by C-SPAN and the coverage is available here:http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/294622-1.
Constitution Project Hosts Panel Discussions Following Screenings of Powerful Guantanamo Film
On Wednesday, June 30th, the Constitution Project joined Amnesty International, Human Rights First, and the Politics on Film Festival to host two screenings of a powerful, award-winning film entitled The Response. The film is a 30-minute courtroom drama based upon actual transcripts of theGuantánamocombatant status review tribunals (CSRTs). Unlike the military commissions that have been used for the criminal prosecutions of some detainees, the CSRTs were tasked with reviewing the case of each and everyGuantánamodetainee to determine whether theU.S. government could legally detain him. In the Supreme Court's 2008 landmark decision in Boumediene v. Bushrecognizing the rights of the detainees to challenge their detention throughhabeas corpusreview, the Court held that the CSRTs were not an adequate substitute forhabeas review.
Panelists: Peter Riegert, Admiral Donald Guter, Gary Isaac, Kate Mulgrew, Sig Libowitz, David Rittgers, Thomas Wilner, Dan Froomkin
Constitution Project President Virginia Sloan introduced the first screening, which took place on Capitol Hill. The second screening was held at George Washington University Law School. The panel discussion at both events included the film's actors, as well as military and legal experts.
This summer, a cluster of proposals to change the Constitution on such issues as birthright citizenship, campaign finance and a balanced budget have captured 
