Constitution Conversation

The news has been filled with reports of court battles, up to and including at the Supreme Court,
over whether the U.S. Constitution limits the federal government’s ability to deport non-citizens
who the government believes are associated with a terrorist organization or whose speech
threatens United States foreign policy interests.
Constitution Conversations, a non-partisan program developed under the auspices of the New
York County Lawyers Association, will be a two-hour session facilitated by two lawyers who
will lead a discussion of the procedural rights non-citizens have under the Fifth
Amendment’s due process clause when the federal government seeks to deport them. The
session will also cover whether and how the First Amendment, which protects freedom of
speech and assembly limits steps the government can take against lawful resident non-citizens
because of views they have expressed on particular issues.
This will not be a lecture. Rather, it will be an opportunity for participants to ask and discuss the
hard questions that these issues and the litigation over them have raised, such as:
 What rights do persons illegally in the country who are accused of being part of a
terrorist organization have to challenge the government’s decision to deport them
under a 1798 law, the Alien Enemies Act?
 What is the balance between efficient immigration enforcement and constitutional
due process?
 Can lawful non-citizen residents engaging in speech and protest activities permitted
to citizens under the First Amendment be deported because the government claims
their speech jeopardizes US foreign policy interests?

** This event is open to the media upon approval. Send requests to press@braverangels.org