Oral history interview with Jameel Jaffer, 2012.

Biographical Note

Deputy Legal Director, American Civil Liberties Union.

Scope and Contents

Born: Ontario, Canada, 1971; Education: B.A., Williams College; M.A., Cambridge University; J.D. Harvard University Law School; Career: Davis Polk & Wardwell, attorney; American Civil Liberties Union [ACLU], staff attorney, 2002; ACLU, director of National Security Working Group, 2007; ACLU, deputy legal director, 2010; author of “Administration of Torture”; Reminiscences: background in economic development, clerkships in Canada and United States, rejection at ACLU, legal representation of prisoners at immigration detention centers after September 11, reaction to September 11, impression of Guantánamo Bay, case shift in focus from detention to torture; Discussions: ACLU Patriot Act surveillance project, Freedom of Information Act [FOIA] and torture documents; legal dispute over release of torture photos, reference book about torture at Guantánamo Bay, legal case against Central Intelligence Agency [CIA] over targeted killings, critique of military commissions and Combatant Status Review Tribunal [CSRT], ACLU John Adams Project, critique of Obama administration, Democratic Party support of target killings program, application of lethal force by military, ACLU support base, honoring dissenters of torture, Tariq Ramadan, censuring during court proceedings, child soldiers, State Secrets Doctrine

Subjects

• Civil rights lawyers--United States--Interviews.
• Criminal defense lawyers.
• Detention of persons--Government policy--United States.
• Grele, Ronald J., interviewer.--http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/ivr
• Guantánamo Bay oral history project.
• Habeas corpus--United States.
• Interviews.
• Jaffer, Jameel--Interviews.
• Military interrogation.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• Prisoners of war--Cuba--Guantánamo Bay Naval Base.
• Rule of law--United States.
• Terrorism (International law)
• Torture--Government policy--United States.
• Unlawful combatants--Legal status, laws, etc.--United States.
• War on Terrorism, 2001-2009.

Access Conditions

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