Eugene R. Fidell

Eugene R. Fidell (born March 31, 1945) is an American lawyer and notable expert in military law.[1] He is currently a visiting Professor of Military Law at Yale Law School.[2]

Contents

Education

Queens College 1965
Harvard Law School 1968

Military service

United States Coast Guard 1969-1972

Family

Fidell is currently married to former U.S. Supreme Court Reported Linda Greenhouse

Current practice

Fidell is a senior partner with Feldesman Tucker Leifer Fidell llp. He joined the firm in 1984. He is also asked to serve as a commentator on military law on TV. Since 2006 he has been an Adjunct Professor at Washington College of Law. He has been a visiting lecturer at Harvard Law School and Yale Law School. Fidell is currently the President of the National Institute of Military Justice.

Guantanamo

Fidell has been a critic of the Bush Presidency's policy on captives taken in the "war on terror".[3]

Commenting on District Court Justice Joyce Hens Green's analysis of the classified dossiers prepared for captives' Combatant Status Review Tribunals Fidell said[4]:

"It suggests the procedure is a sham, If a case like that can get through, what it means is that the merest scintilla of evidence against someone would carry the day for the government, even if there's a mountain of evidence on the other side."

Clark Hoyt, or the New York Times described Fidell holding back in participating in preparing a brief submitted to the Supreme Court on behalf of National Institute of Military Justice and the Bar Association of the District of Columbia because of the concern it would be considered a conflict of interest, since his wife journalist Linda Greenhouse was covering the case.[5] NIMH is associated with American University's Washington College of Law in Washington, D.C..

Slate magazine published an article written by Emily Bazelon and Dahlia Lithwick, criticizing the New York Times for failing to show more support for their employee.[6]

According to Bazelon and Lithwick the main critic of Greenhouse covering stories where her husband Fidell has a role is M. Edward Whelan III of the National Review. They wrote:

Unable to point to any actual bias, Whelan resorts to the petulant claim that the effect of Fidell's involvement in the detainee cases "would be impossible to separate … from the broader political bias that pervades so much of Greenhouse's reporting."

The Washington Times published an op-ed by Fidell on 7 December 2008.[2] He concluded:

The new administration should suspend all military commission proceedings while it settles on an overall policy. Similarly, it should seek a "timeout" for all detainee-related litigation while it fashions a coherent legal strategy. In the long run, this will save time for everyone, including the detainees, who in the eyes of the world have become symbols of a failed system.

Publications

References

  1. ^ "Eugene R. Fidell". Feldesman Tucker Liefer Fidell llp. Archived from the original on 2007-10-17. http://web.archive.org/web/20071017113507/http://feldesmantucker.com/Bio/EugeneFidell.asp. Retrieved 2007-11-19. 
  2. ^ a b Eugene R. Fidell (2008-12-07). "SOLUTIONS/FIDELL: What should the U.S. do about Gitmo?". Washington Times. http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/dec/07/what-should-the-us-do-about-guantanamo-bay/. Retrieved 2008-12-08.  mirror
  3. ^ Eugene R. Fidell, Dwight H. Sullivan, Detlev F. Vagts (December 2005). "Military Commission Law" (PDF). The Army Lawyer. http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/law/mil-commiss-law.pdf. Retrieved 2007-11-10. 
  4. ^ Carol D. Leonnig (March 27, 2005). "Panel Ignored Evidence on Detainee". Washington Post. pp. A01. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A3868-2005Mar26?language=printer. Retrieved 2008-01-20. 
  5. ^ Clark Hoyt (January 20, 2008). "Public and Private Lives, Intersecting". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/20/opinion/20pubed.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=all. Retrieved 2008-01-18. 
  6. ^ Emily Bazelon, Dahlia Lithwick (January 22, 2008). "Lay Off Linda: Why doesn't the New York Times stand up for Linda Greenhouse?". Slate magazine. http://www.slate.com/id/2182077/. Retrieved 2008-01-25. "Whelan didn't point to any concrete problem with Greenhouse's handling of these cases. That should be easier to do than with almost any other reporter, given that Greenhouse relies primarily on court filings and oral arguments that are publicly available in their entirety, as Yale law professor Judith Resnik points out to us. Unable to point to any actual bias, Whelan resorts to the petulant claim that the effect of Fidell's involvement in the detainee cases 'would be impossible to separate … from the broader political bias that pervades so much of Greenhouse's reporting.'"