
Welcome
to the website of the American College of Trial Lawyers.
The ACTL is unique among the many organizations comprised of members of
the Bar. In the parlance of our profession, we are sui
generis, or one of a kind. One cannot apply to join the ACTL,
nor can an existing Fellow (member) simply tap a friend to join our
ranks. Rather, a State Committee in the U.S. or a Province
Committee in Canada must identify, or three current Fellows must
nominate, an experienced trial lawyer who meets the highest standards of
professional excellence, ethics, and collegiality. The rigorous
review process then undertaken is unparalleled. At the end
of the day, the men and women who are invited to join us are universally
well suited to the College’s entirely apolitical missions of
maintaining and improving the standards and ethics of our profession,
and, most particularly, the administration of justice. When we
gather, we greatly enjoy the collegiality of our Fellowship, but we
never lose track of the reasons that we exist.
It should come as no surprise that the most important issue relating to
the administration of justice in the past decade and arguably in our
generation, i.e., the treatment and handling of Guantanamo
detainees, has been a matter of much discussion within our
Fellowship. Within our ranks, we can present compelling and
strongly-held positions favoring trial of the remaining detainees in
Article III courts or before military judges sitting on military
commissions. Because people of good faith differ as to the
appropriate approach – Fellows will recall the excellent but
conflicting positions espoused by Prof. Stephen A. Saltzburg and former
White House Counsel Gregory B. Craig at our recent Spring Meeting
– the ACTL has taken no position with regard to which approach
strikes the proper balance between due process and national
security.
However, the ACTL has not hesitated to speak in defense of the key
constitutional principle involved in the detention of actual and alleged
enemy combatants at Guantanamo: The writ of habeas
corpus, that is, the right of one who is incarcerated to due
process of law, including judicial review of his incarceration, must not
be abrogated. This lofty constitutional premise is not solely
within the protection of those at one end of the political spectrum.
Following logically from the premise that the writ of habeas
corpus must not be abrogated, the attorneys who have defended the
Great Writ through their representation of Guantanamo detainees, often
in the face of substantial adversity, are to be celebrated, not
maligned. We are certainly not alone in this view: As recent
criticisms of these advocates have again reared their ugly heads, the
nature and extent of the response, again from both ends of the political
spectrum, have been up-lifting. It is indeed true: We are a
nation of laws, not of men (and women).
The ACTL commends the scores of Fellowsand other attorneys, who have
taken on pro bono representation of detainees over the past
several years, often under adverse circumstances and in the face of
derision. We shall honor the Fellows who have engaged in such
representation at our 60th Anniversary Annual Meeting in Washington,
D.C. Regardless of our individual political views and of our
differing opinions as to how the conclusion of this chapter in our
history is to be written, we are united in our reverence for our
constitution and steadfast in our defense of the Great Writ. We
know that we owe all of these attorneys a debt of gratitude for the
time, expense, and heart that they have devoted to this effort on behalf
of all of us. We can never fully repay that debt, but we can
certainly express our thanks.
|