Description

The technologies that enable terrorist watchlists make possible an extraordinary, near instantaneous executive power to stop travel, limit access to public forums, restrict employment, and control other fundamentals of life in a modern society. The prototype and catalyst of this brave new world has been the U.S. No-Fly List. In the United States and elsewhere, however, legal institutions have failed to keep pace with this power. As a result, the proliferation and expansion of watchlists is weakening conceptions of citizenship that serve as the foundations for states premised on equal rights under law. This conceptual shift is an understudied concern, beyond the liberty-security debate, that merits critical attention. The long-term result may be the creation of cadres of watchlisted citizens classified like passengers on an airplane into first-, second-, and third-class status.

About The Speaker
Professor of Law Jeffrey D. Kahn joined the SMU Law faculty in Fall 2006 after serving as a trial attorney in the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington D.C. He teaches and writes on American constitutional law, Russian law, human rights, and counterterrorism. His work has appeared in the UCLA Law Review, Michigan Law Review, Virginia Journal of International Law, and other scholarly publications. His latest research on U.S. legal topics focuses on the right to travel and national security law. His most recent book, Mrs. Shipley’s Ghost: The Right to Travel and Terrorist Watchlists (University of Michigan Press, 2013, paperback 2014), critically examines the U.S. Government’s No Fly List. Susan Ginsburg, Senior Counsel and Team Leader for the 9-11 Commission called the book, “A necessary read.” He testified as an expert witness for the (successful) plaintiff in the first No Fly List case to reach trial, Ibrahim v. Department of Homeland Security, 62 F.Supp.3d 909 (N.D. Cal. 2014). In addition, his work on national security topics has been featured in the Washington Post and The Atlantic, as well as the leading national security law blog, Lawfare. He is a graduate of Yale College, Oxford University, and the University of Michigan Law School.