The 2010 IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law/Roy C. Palmer Civil Liberties Prize Lecture: "Laws, Outlaws, and Terrorists: Lessons from the War on Terrorism"

Harvard Law School professors Gabriella Blum and Philip B. Heymann will discuss their award-winning book, Laws, Outlaws, and Terrorists: Lessons from the War on Terrorism (MIT Press 2010), at the 2010 IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law/Roy C. Palmer Civil Liberties Prize Lecture. The program will begin at noon on August 30 at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, 565 West Adams Street (between Clinton and Jefferson streets) in Chicago.

In their book, Laws, Outlaws, and Terrorists, Professors Blum and Heymann reject the argument that traditional American values embodied in domestic and international law can be ignored in any sustainable effort to keep the United States safe from terrorism. They argue that the costs are great and the benefits slight from separating security and the rule of law.

Gabriella Blum has been a member of the Harvard Law School faculty since 2007. Her scholarly interests include conflict management, counter-terrorism operations, laws of armed conflict, negotiation and public international law. She earned an LL.B., a B.A. in economics, and an LL.M. -- all from Tel-Aviv University. She then joined the Israel Defense Forces, serving in the International Law Department of the Military Advocate General's Corps. After earning her LL.M. and S.J.D. degrees from Harvard Law School, she returned to the International Law Department of the Israel Defense Forces to lead the counter-terrorism desk. Professor Blum went on to serve as strategic advisor to the Israeli National Security Council before returning to Harvard as a visiting assistant professor in 2005.

Philip B. Heymann currently is the James Barr Ames Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. He received his undergraduate degree in philosophy from Yale University. He earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School and clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Harlan. Professor Heymann served in the Solicitor General's office during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations and as an associate special prosecutor and consultant to the special Watergate prosecution force. He headed the Justice Department's criminal division during the Carter administration and was deputy attorney general during the Clinton administration. Professor Heymann has also held positions as acting administrator of the State Department's Bureau of Security & Consular Affairs, deputy assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of International Organizations, and executive assistant to the undersecretary of state.

The IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law/Roy C. Palmer Civil Liberties Prize was established in 2007 by Chicago-Kent alumnus Roy C. Palmer and his wife, Susan, to honor an exemplary work of scholarship exploring the tension between civil liberties and national security in contemporary American society.

Chicago-Kent College of Law is the law school of Illinois Institute of Technology, a private, Ph.D.-granting institution with programs in engineering, psychology, architecture, business, design and law.