Students in the Guantanamo Defense Clinic assist the Chief Defense Counsel for the Guantanamo detainees by preparing briefs and memos, and otherwise assisting with preparation for trials before the U. S. Military Commissions. Some travel will be required to Washington, DC, and to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. A minimum of 75 hours is expected of all enrolled students. Consistent with North Carolina State Bar regulations, students must be in their fourth semester of law study to enroll in this clinic. There will be one hour of classroom meeting per week. Prerequisite: Public International Law. Students are strongly recommended to have completed or concurrently be enrolled in National Security Law
In early 2006, at Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba, 10 detainees have cases pending before military commissions. The charges levied against them vary, but include conspiracy to commit attacks on civilians, murder, and terrorism. The small team of military lawyers charged with defending these detainees is being assisted by a platoon of Duke Law students, supervised by Professor Madeline Morris. Team members, under Morris’ supervision, review and comment on each other’s work on assignments from the chief defense counsel and from the lead counsel in their particular case, and collaborate on briefs and memos.
“There is no case law pertaining to these particular military commissions and very little U.S. case law on military commissions at all,” says Morris, who also teaches the clinic’s classroom component. “They have unclear procedures, based on orders and instructions that can’t possibly cover all the complex legal issues involved, and the military commissions will utilize a very porous mix of federal, military, and international law. For all those reasons, assisting the military defense team represents a spectacular research opportunity for our students. They are learning the substance and methodology of these bodies of law, as well as learning the indispensable skill of utilizing diverse bodies of law in the litigation of one case.