Former New York Times Correspondent Gives Lecture
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Category: News > University
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Comments (Months after stepping down from her post at The New York Times, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Linda Greenhouse criticized the Bush administration's handling of Guantanamo Bay prisoners at an on-campus lecture yesterday.
Greenhouse, a former Supreme Court correspondent, drew on her reporting to discuss the disagreement between the courts' and the Bush administration over whose responsibility it was to determine the fate of Guantanamo Bay prisoners.
"How can it be that after numerous courtroom battles ... not a single detainee has ever been released ... without permission of the administration?" she asked. "How is it that the administration has lost and lost and lost again and still has not been ordered to remove any prisoners against its will?"
Greenhouse cited detailed quotes from court decisions and government memos about discussions regarding Guantanamo Bay.
"For anyone concerned about the role of law, these have been disquieting years," she said, arguing that the executive branch violated separation of powers by defying Supreme Court rulings.
Around 300 students, faculty and community members attended the lecture in Barrows Hall. Some attendees said they were confused at times by the extensive detail and legal jargon that Greenhouse used, but others said they appreciated her thorough research.
"I thought it was extremely informative," said junior Janette Galaviz, a political science major. "I felt like she was going to give more of her opinion, but considering she's a journalist I know she has to be fair and balanced."
Greenhouse belongs to a group of more than 50 speakers who lecture at UC Berkeley as part of the Jefferson Memorial Lectures. The series of lectures focuses on American democracy from different standpoints.
The audience asked questions about what Greenhouse thought of Boalt Hall School of Law professor John Yoo, who wrote memos for the Bush administration that provided the legal basis for detention and interrogation techniques such as torture.
Greenhouse responded by quoting Sen. Barack Obama, saying, "You're asking profound questions that are above my pay grade."
Contact Vanessa Lord at vlord@dailycal.org.
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