The end of the semester is a stressful time for every law student. If you need a break, watch The Oath, the latest documentary produced by Professor Kaplan. The Oath presents the story of two brothers-in-law, Abu Jandal, Osama bin Laden’s former bodyguard, and his most famous recruit, Salim Hamdan, who is on trial for terrorism. The film delves into Abu Jandal’s daily life as a taxi driver in Yemen and Hamdan’s military tribunal in Guantanamo Bay prison. The Oath premiers in New York City on May 7 and runs through May 20 at the IFC Center. The IFC Center is located on 6th Avenue and West 3rd Street in Manhattan.
If after seeing the documentary and finishing exams you want to read more about Hamdan or the Guantanomo trials, check out the books below from the Brooklyn Law School Library.
The Challenge : Hamdan v. Rumsfeld and the Fight Over Presidential Power, by Jonathan Mahler
The description below is provided by the publisher.
In November 2001, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a 31-year-old Yemeni, was captured and turned over to U.S. forces in Afghanistan. After confessing to being Osama bin Laden’s driver, Hamdan was transferred to Guantánamo Bay, and was soon designated by President Bush for trial before a special military tribunal. The Pentagon assigned a military defense lawyer to represent him, a 35-year-old graduate of the Naval Academy, Lieutenant Commander Charles Swift. No one expected Swift to mount much of a defense. The rules of the tribunals, America’s first in over fifty years, were stacked against him–assuming he wasn’t expected to throw the game altogether. Instead, with the help of a young constitutional law professor at Georgetown, Neal Katyal, Swift sued the Bush Administration over the legality of the tribunals. In 2006, Katyal argued the case before the Supreme Court and won. This is the inside story of what may be the most important decision on presidential power and the rule of law in the history of the Supreme Court.
Honor Bound: Inside the Guantanamo Trials, by Kyndra Rotunda.
The description below is provided by the publisher.
Honor Bound is an intriguing book that explains the law of war and the inside story of military commissions. The author is a former JAG lawyer who served on the prosecution team, worked in Guantanamo Bay, and was legal advisor to an elite team of war crimes investigators. Through a series of entertaining vignettes, Rotunda discusses and analyzes the laws governing the war on terror, the Geneva Conventions, and the laws related to detainees held in Cuba.
