Susan N. Herman, the President of the American Civil Liberties Union and a professor of law at Brooklyn Law, will present the Lane Foundation lecture at noon March 31 in Hamann Auditorium. The lecture is free and open to the public. Her speech, "How the Bush/Obama War on Terror Threatens Ordinary Americans, Constitutional Rights, and Democracy," is based on her current book, "Taking Liberties: The War on Terror and the Erosion of American Democracy," which will be published by Oxford University Press in September 2011.
Herman was elected President of the ACLU in October 2008 after having served on its Board of Directors, Executive Committee, and as General Counsel. At Brooklyn Law, she teaches courses in Criminal Law and Procedure and Constitutional Law, as well as seminars on Law and Literature, and Terrorism and Civil Liberties. She writes extensively on constitutional and criminal procedure topics for legal and non-legal publications, ranging from law reviews and books to popular press and on-line publications. In addition to her upcoming book, recent publications include two books, TERRORISM, GOVERNMENT, AND LAW: NATIONAL AUTHORITY AND LOCAL AUTONOMY IN THE WAR ON TERROR, editor and co-author, with Paul Finkelman (Praeger Security International 2008) and THE RIGHT TO A SPEEDY AND PUBLIC TRIAL (Praeger 2006).
Herman has discussed constitutional law issues on PBS, CSPAN, NBC, MSNBC and on the Today in New York show, in addition to commenting for print media including Newsday and the New York Times. Herman has also participated has also participated in Supreme Court litigation, writing and collaborating on amicus curiae briefs for the ACLU on a range of constitutional criminal procedure issues.
The Winthrop and Frances Lane Foundation provides scholarships to students at the University of Nebraska College of Law and at Creighton Law School. The foundation also provides grants to support law faculty research and to underwrite the Lane Foundation Lecture.
Winthrop Lane was born in Omaha in 1889 and attended Harvard Law School. He was a partner in the firm of Rose, Wells, Martin & Lane, a predecessor to the present Baird Holm law firm in Omaha. Lane practiced in the areas of corporate and municipal bond law.
- Molly Brummond, College of Law