May 12, 2008

Rutgers-Newark Constitutional Litigation Clinic to Announce Filing of Lawsuit Challenging the Iraq War

EDITORS: Please notify Janet Donohue at jdonohue@andromeda.rutgers.edu or 973-353-5553 if you plan to send a reporter or photographer to cover the press conference.

WHAT: Press conference to announce filing by the Constitutional Litigation Clinic at Rutgers School of Law–Newark of a lawsuit challenging President Bush’s authority to wage war in Iraq without a Congressional Declaration of War.

WHO: Professor Frank Askin, founding director of the Constitutional Litigation Clinic and attorney for the plaintiffs
Leaders of the plaintiff organizations

WHEN: 11 am, Tuesday, May 13, 2008

WHERE: Baker Trial Courtroom (1st floor), Rutgers School of Law–Newark, 123 Washington Street. Directions to the Law School can be found at http://law.newark.rutgers.edu/Directions&MaptoLawSchool.pdf

BACKGROUND: The suit to be filed on May 13 in the U.S. District Court in Newark lists New Jersey Peace Action, a non-profit, anti-war organization, and two leaders of the New Jersey Chapter of Military Families Speak Out (MFSO) as the plaintiffs. According to Professor Askin, the suit is based on the original intent of the nation’s founders in Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution to assign the war-making powers to Congress. The 20-page Complaint relies very heavily on the records of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and asserts that Congress lacks the authority to delegate its responsibility to the President.

Six Rutgers-Newark law students have worked for most of the academic year with Professor Askin and Professor Emeritus Alfred Blumrosen in studying the issue and preparing the litigation.

For more information, contact Professor Frank Askin at 973-353-5687.