The Free Speech and Open Government Assembly showcased seminars and panels that celebrated free speech and resistance to excessive government secrecy from Oct. 25-26.
Featured speaker Jeffrey Toobin (pictured above), author, New Yorker magazine staff writer and CNN legal consultant, presented on "The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court." He tracked the Supreme Court since the 1980s looking at the personal lives and personalities of the justices and how these are manifested in the Court. The ruling on the 2000 election case Bush v. Gore was just one instance where this has been evident.
"Was the decision the judges' choices for who should win? I can't prove it for certain," Toobin said when asked whether Bush v. Gore was influenced by individual political leanings. He went on to say that the hasty manner of the decision and its application of the Equal Protection Clause support the case that personal political preferences were a factor.
Presenting his 2007 book at USC’s Davidson Center, Until Proven Innocent: Political Correctness and the Shameful Injustices of the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case, journalist and lawyer Stuart Taylor, Jr. questioned the ethical conduct of those who covered the lacrosse players' initial charges, subsequent trial and final exoneration. He blamed the absence of self-regulation by the journalists involved and the conduct of the university officers who allowed the allegations against the athletes to spin out of control – but he also pointed to the aggressive activity of round-the-clock news outlets, many of whom look for ways to perpetuate a story that has not merited such coverage.
“I think the 24-hour news cycle has an automatic ratcheting-up effect on every level,” he said. “[The journalists] get the credence because they get out on television and are given that credibility.”
Taylor also claimed that the racial climate at Duke led to a reverse-discrimination effect, where “privileged white males” were unfairly targeted because of their race. These actions, he said, led journalists to jump on the story in ways that were unethical.
A panel on "National Security and Government Secrecy," moderated by Harold Fuson, addressed recent wiretapping issues. The discussion focused on the problems and reasons for the National Security Agency's electronic surveillance program. Panelists John Sims, professor of national security law at University of the Pacific, Kevin Bankston, an attorney at Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Scott Armstrong, a former Washington Post reporter, noted that while mass acquisitions of data by the NSA are troublesome, current law has not caught up to changes in telecommunications. However, the Bush administration's method for warrentless surveillance is not necessarily going to be effective in catching terrorists.
"Because (the NSA) have chosen to not deal with the courts (when it comes to acquiring intelligence) they are dealing with a very small tool set. Real security threats require more than a phone tap and video recorder," Sims said.
The Assembly brought together the best and brightest of law, journalism and public policy. Included in the Assembly were forums on social networking, national security secrecy, immigration reporting, cameras in the courtroom, tribal secrecy, access to police records — and more, all featuring leading lawyers, journalists, new media mavens, policy wonks and other experts.
Please explore the Assembly program for more information about the event.
