Dror Ladin, a lawyer at the American Civil Liberties Union and one of the leading civil liberties lawyers in the United States, will give a talk and lead a discussion at AUP. Most recently, Dror's work was instrumental to the release of Mohamedou Slahi, who was held without charge or trial at Guantanamo Bay for 13 years and endured psychological and physical torture.
Currently, Dror is suing two psychologists contracted by the CIA, and paid 81 million dollars, to design, implement, and oversee the agency's torture program. Filed on behalf of three plaintiffs — Suleiman Abdullah Salim, Mohamed Ahmed Ben Soud, and the family of Gul Rahman — the closely watched lawsuit alleges that all three were kidnapped, tortured, and experimented upon according to the psychologists' protocols. The torture methods include exposure to extreme temperatures, starvation, stuffing in boxes, and infliction of various kinds of water torture.
Dror's work also includes the successful challenge to an Arizona state law that criminalized the provision of shelter and transportation to immigrants, as well as cases on behalf of immigrants challenging the lack of court review over their detention and deportation. Beyond these cases, Dror has written amicus briefs in support of Chelsea Manning's release and on behalf of victims of torture at Abu Ghraib.
Previously, Dror worked as a Skadden Fellow at the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project and clerked for the Honorable Kim McLane Wardlaw of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He has also worked as an associate at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Vassar College, and received his J.D. from Yale Law School.
As our university searches for ways to think about Trump's election, this event can shed light on the work that people have done in protecting civil liberties, and point us towards strategies for future battles.
This event is sponsored by the Center for Critical Democracy and the Democracy Firstbridge.
External guests should contact Michelle Kuo (mkuo
aup.edu). This event will take place on Monday evening, December 5 at 6:30 PM in Combes 102.