After 9/11: Guantánamo and the mobilization of lawyers

Abstract

“Guantánamo lawyers” are a variegated group of lawyers from diverse practice settings, backgrounds, and beliefs. Drawing from interview and archival data, this chapter explores why these lawyers have mobilized to work on Guantánamo matters. What processes engender “heterogeneous mobilization” (i.e., mobilization from different practice settings, and diverse professional, as well as political backgrounds, and beliefs) of lawyers? What are the impacts of such mobilization on the work of lawyers? Adopting a social movement lens and a contemporary historical perspective, this chapter identifies lawyers’ perceptions of their role vis-à-vis the “rule of law” as the most significant cross-cutting motivation for participation. The overlap in human rights orientation of legal nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and the legal academy, and the corporate pro bono practice at top law firms, facilitates collaborative lawyering between lawyers. Despite some potential limitations of such collaborations, heterogeneous mobilization appears to contribute, at least in the case of Guantánamo, to a greater likelihood of resistance by lawyers to the retreat from individual rights in the name of national security.

Citation

Prabhat, D. (2011), "After 9/11: Guantánamo and the mobilization of lawyers", Sarat, A. (Ed.) Special Issue Social Movements/Legal Possibilities (Studies in Law, Politics, and Society, Vol. 54), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 213-259. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1059-4337(2011)0000054011