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John Yoo -- who spearheaded the Bush administration's legal response to the 2001 terrorist attacks -- and other constitutional scholars will debate the National Security Agency's surveillance program, warrantless phone wiretapping and the war on terror at °ÅÀÖÊÓƵ March 9.

The event, titled "Katz v. U.S: 40 Years Later -- From Warrantless Wiretaps to the War on Terror," will focus on how the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark "search and seizure" decision in Katz applies in a modern age of global terrorism.

The °ÅÀÖÊÓƵ Law Review and the School of Law will host the free, public event. The program runs from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Wilkins Moot Court Room of King Hall on the °ÅÀÖÊÓƵ campus.

"The issue of warrantless wiretaps and personal privacy has resurfaced from under the current NSA surveillance program," said David Richardson, editor-in-chief of the law review. "This symposium will allow some of the greatest legal minds in the country to discuss both sides of this controversy."

Jennifer Chacon, a °ÅÀÖÊÓƵ professor of law and faculty adviser to the event, said, "Growing concerns over crime and terrorism in the United States have sparked a national conversation about the trade-offs between individual privacy and security."

"Read against a modern backdrop," she added, "the case of Katz v. United States provides an ideal framework for discussing privacy expectations, effective law enforcement and anti-terrorism strategies."

In Katz, the court ruled that the Fourth Amendment protects "people, not places" and provides protection of a "reasonable expectation of privacy," effectively curtailing the use of warrantless wiretaps by law enforcement agencies.

John Yoo, now a UC Berkeley law professor, and Glenn Sulmasy of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, will co-present a paper questioning the viability of Katz in the war on terror in a session at 2:45 p.m. Yoo served as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel of the U.S. Department of Justice from 2001 to 2003.

Sessions are as follows: "Katz in Context: Privacy, Policing Homosexuality and Enforcing Social Norms," 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.; "Katz: Rights and Remedies," 12:45 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.; "Katz in the Age of International Crime and Terrorism," 2:45 p.m. to 4:15 p.m.; and closing remarks, 4:15 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Celebrating its 40th anniversary, the law review ranks in the top 50 most cited legal periodicals in the United States. Each year it hosts a symposium on current legal topics.

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