Leon Panetta Speaks on Panel at Law School Concerning Domestic Surveillance & Executive Authority

On Wednesday, March 13, , the law school hosted a panel discussion on the recently disclosed program operated by the National Security Administration to conduct electronic surveillance of persons that the government had reason to believe were linked to terrorist organizations. The panelists included Leon Panetta, an alumnus of both the undergraduate program and the law school at Santa Clara; Jeffrey Mittman, the PATRIOT Act campaign coordinator for the American Civil Liberties Union; and Brad Joondeph, a member of the Santa Clara School of Law faculty. The event was co-sponsored by the Santa Clara student chapter of the ACLU, the American Constitution Society, and the Middle Eastern Law Students Association.

The discussion was interesting and wide-ranging. Mr. Panetta described how the legislative and executive branches differed in practice, drawing from his experiences as a member of Congress and as the head of the Office and Management and Budget and Chief of Staff for President Clinton. He also tied the present controversy to a critical principle that the Framers embedded in the Constitution in 1789 – the belief that power must be divided, and that each branch of government must be subject to vigorous checks and balances. Mr. Mittman provided some more background on the present controversy concerning NSA surveillance, and he urged Santa Clara students to pay attention and get involved. Professor Joondeph noted that there were a number of large, unresolved constitutional questions surrounding the breadth of the President’s inherent authority. He suggested that, as with most large constitutional questions, politics and public opinion will ultimately provide the answer.