After his election as Venezuela’s President in 1999, the late Hugo Chávez oversaw a gradual, but unmistakable, consolidation of power.  At the time of his death, Mr. Chávez controlled nearly all important institutions in Venezuela.  Although the Chávez regime was unchallenged in its exercise of power – using this power to arrest and detain opponents, silence opposition media, and illegally expropriate billions in private property – it did so under the guise of respect for the rule of law.  This amounted to little more than form over substance.  After Mr. Chávez’s death, and with the election of President Nicolás Maduro on April 14, 2013, what are the prospects for a return to democracy and genuine rule of law in Venezuela?

Featuring:

• Hon. Roger F. Noriega, Founder and Managing Director, VisiónAméricas and Fellow, American Enterprise Institute; former U.S. Ambassador to the Organization of American States; and former Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs
• Moderator: Mr. Dean A. Reuter, Vice President & Director of Practice Groups, The Federalist Society

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On April 17, 2013, the Supreme Court decided Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., holding that the Alien Tort Statute does not have extraterritorial reach.  This halts the recent trend of parties being hauled into United States courts for alleged torts that occurred in another country with no connection to the United States.  This teleforum discusses the implications of this landmark decision.

Featuring:

• Prof. Chimène Keitner, University of California Hastings College of the Law
• Prof. Julian G. Ku, Professor of Law and Faculty Director of International Programs, Hofstra University Maurice A. Deane School of Law
• Moderator: Mr. Dean A. Reuter, Vice President & Director of Practice Groups, The Federalist Society

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Leaks seem to be ubiquitous these days.  Within the past several years, government employees have revealed details about a number of classified military and intelligence matters, including the following: a Pakistani doctor who is said to have helped the CIA track down Osama bin Laden in Pakistan; the government’s purported process for selecting targets for drone strikes, including President Obama’s personal participation in the decisions; and the alleged role of the United States and Israel in developing malware designed to disable the Iranian regime’s nuclear weapons program.

What are the government’s options for preventing or sanctioning these sorts of leaks?  And what are the constitutional constraints on these efforts to safeguard classified information?  May the government prosecute alleged leakers under the Espionage Act, a World War I era statute designed to protect against spies working for foreign governments?  May it prosecute newspapers, bloggers, and others who publish leaked documents?  Even if the Espionage Act applies to leaks on its face, do the First Amendment and other constitutional guarantees nevertheless prohibit the government from punishing employees who leak documents and media outlets who publish them?  Should Congress amend the Espionage Act to better address leaks?  Or should it scrap the statute and craft entirely new legislation that is specifically geared to the problem?

Featuring:

• Prof. Nathan A. Sales, George Mason University School of Law
• Mr. Ben Wizner, Director, Speech, Privacy & Technology Project, American Civil Liberties Union
• Moderator: Mr. Christian Corrigan, Director of Publications, The Federalist Society

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Because the surviving Boston bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, is a U.S. citizen, trial before a military commission is not available under the Military Commissions Act. Indefinite detention as an enemy combatant was an option, but that appears to have been taken off the table by the Obama Administration. So the question is the extent and value of Miranda-free interrogation. Was Mr. Tsarnaev read his Miranda rights prematurely? And what should or could the FBI and the rest of the intelligence community have done in advance of the attack, if anything, to monitor or surveil the deceased suspect, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, in view of the request from Russia and the the elder Tsarnaev brother’s 2012 return trip?

Featuring:

• Mr. Andrew C. McCarthy, Executive Director, Philadelphia Freedom Center and Contributing Editor, National Review
• Moderator: Mr. Dean A. Reuter, Vice President & Director of Practice Groups, The Federalist Society

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