Preventive Detention

When can the state imprison people without trial? That question lurks beneath many important civil rights issues of our time, from the recent massive increase in federal immigration detention and the President’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act to the growing confinement of unhoused people, overcrowded urban jails, quarantines for infectious disease, and more. We will examine these practices and the law that binds them together.
The course will begin with an overview of the legal principles involved whenever the state imprisons anyone. We will then survey different types of imprisonment without trial, briefly covering several forms in the first portion of the course—pre-trial criminal detention, detention of people with mental illnesses, detention of sex offenders, quarantines, and curfews (including recent litigation concerning the National Guard and the Insurrection Act). 
We will then explore the law governing habeas corpus, which is the primary mechanism by which the law permits challenges to imprisonment without trial by executive officers.  
With these foundations in place, we will turn to a more intensive exploration of the law governing immigration detention; and then the law governing national security-based detention, including detention of enemy combatants and others at Guantánamo Bay. 

Learning Methods and Grading
We will study these topics primarily by reading cases, but we will also read court filings, argument transcripts, news accounts, law review articles, and other materials that provide greater context for our inquiry. Three classes will also be devoted primarily to conversations with guests—likely a current or former judge, a practicing attorney, a formerly detained individual, and/or a current or former reporter.

Each student will write three short papers (950-1000 words each) during the semester, and then (along with a group of five other students) lead class discussion for a portion of the corresponding class. Each student will also conduct one appellate oral argument and serve as a judge for an oral argument. Grades will be based on: 30% one paper, 30% a second paper, 30% oral argument exercise (both argument and judging), and 10% class participation. (All three papers are graded), but the lowest paper score will be dropped. There is no curve for this class.   

Note: Due primarily to the rise of Artificial Intelligence programs utilizing Large Language Models, no laptops or electronic devices that support such programs will be permitted in class. Students will be expected to take notes on paper. I will provide printouts of all class readings in advance. 
 
This restriction does not apply to those with specific accommodations approved by UCLA’s Center for Accessible Education (CAE). If you obtain an accommodation from CAE permitting use of a laptop in this class, you may do so.