Saint Martin's University to screen Guantánamo film on Constitution Day

August 26, 2009

Lacey, Washington – Saint Martin’s University, in conjunction with the ACLU-Washington and the Thurston County Bar Association, will recognize Constitution Day by having a public screening and discussion of the new film “The Response” on Thursday, September 17 from 6-8 p.m., in Harned Hall Room 110, on Saint Martin’s campus in Lacey.

“The Response” is an award-winning courtroom drama based on the actual transcripts from the Combatant Status Review Tribunal (CSRT) proceedings that took place at Guantánamo, in which men who had been detained for many years seek release, or at least information about their situation. The film depicts the unfairness of these proceedings, which were based on secret evidence, hearsay, and coerced evidence.

Joseph McMillan of Perkins Coie will be the keynote speaker for this screening. McMillan will discuss a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that he worked on, Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, in which the Supreme Court held that the Bush administration’s military commissions for detainees at Guantanamo could not proceed because their procedures violated the U.S. Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Geneva Conventions.

Saint Martin’s University General Counsel and Adjunct Professor Shawn Newman said, “As issues related to Guantánamo, torture, and detention continue to make headlines and fuel public debate, we hope that this screening will provide a timely educational opportunity to spark local discussions about the rule of law.” All publically funded educational institutions are mandated by federal law to provide educational programming on the American Constitution on Constitution Day. The U.S. Constitutional Convention signed the Constitution on September 17, 1787.

To learn more about this public screening and discussion, please contact Shawn Newman at 360-866-2322 or newmanlaw@comcast.net, or Robert Hauhart at 360-438-4525 or rhauhart@stmartin.edu. To learn more about the film, visit http://www.theresponsemovie.com.

Saint Martin’s University is an independent four-year, Catholic, coeducational university located on a 380-acre wooded campus in Lacey, Washington. Established in 1895 by the Catholic Order of Saint Benedict, the University is one of 18 Benedictine colleges and universities in the United States and Canada, and the only one west of the Rocky Mountains. Saint Martin’s University prepares students for successful lives through its 21 majors and six graduate programs spanning the liberal arts, business, education and engineering. Saint Martin’s welcomes 1,250 student from many ethnic and religious backgrounds to its main campus, and 650 more to its five extension campuses located at Fort Lewis Army Post, McChord Air Force Base, Olympic College, Centralia College, and Tacoma Community College.

For additional information

Shawn Newman
General counsel and adjunct professor
Saint Martin’s University
360-866-2322
newmanlaw@comcast.net

Robert Hauhart
Associate professor
Criminal justice
360-438-4525
rhauhart@stmartin.edu