Rights, Secrecy, and the Limits of Public Interest Litigation

The seminar will expose the students to impact litigation on a practical and strategic level through examinations of various lawsuits related to secrecy, national security, and surveillance. Students will read judicial opinions, advocacy briefs, congressional testimony, op-eds, scholarly works, and attorney memoirs, with a goal of stimulating conversations about the meaning of public interest work, the strategies that guide impact litigation, and the challenges that make such work difficult but rewarding—all in the context of litigation arising in the post-9/11 landscape.