A new legal clinic at the UT School of Law will undertake legal cases resulting from the war on terror.
Law students working at the National Security and Human Rights Clinic will serve as advocates for Guantanamo Bay detainees and offer objective expertise in other cases. Students will also work on the rendition project, which deals with the transfer of individuals from the detention facility to another country, where they're likely to be tortured, said Kristine Huskey, director of the clinic.
"This is a really great opportunity for the coming together of all aspects of law, law students and professors," she said.
Oral arguments will begin this fall in the U.S. Supreme Court for a brief, prepared by clinic students over the summer, challenging the legality of the Military Commissions Act. The act's stated purpose is to "facilitate bringing to justice terrorists and other unlawful enemy combatants through full and fair trials by military commissions," according to the act's text.
Various civil rights organizations have accused the federal government of infringing on the liberties of several prisoners detained during the war on terror since many have not been charged or allowed to consult legal counsel.
Huskey said the clinic allows students to look at law, not just from the textbook angle, but from the perspective created by the media and its impact on cases.
Other UT law professors and attorneys in Austin are also working at the clinic, which is one of few legal clinics that has undertaken these sensitive subjects, Huskey said.
She has been working on the clinic for several months and said it will be available as long as it's needed.
"If the clinic keeps going, it means we're still having terrorism problems and fighting the 'war on terror,'" Huskey said.
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