The Alien Who is a Citizen

The United States is renowned for a Constitutional Bill of Rights that empowers  individual citizens to use courts to thwart the power of the government.  In 1971, the Supreme Court even established that the Fourth Amendment authorizes U.S. citizens to sue federal agents in their individual capacities if the agents violate this right, reasoning that if individuals have a right not to have the government enter their homes without a properly obtained warrant, then there must be a remedy if this right is violated.  Further, unlike England, there is no mechanism for the forced expatriation of citizens, native born or naturalized.  Indeed, to actually expatriate oneself from U.S. citizenship is extremely difficult.  And yet, every day the U.S. government is wrongfully and with little accountability, detaining and deporting U.S. citizens as so-called “aliens.”  This talk by Professor Jacqueline Stevens will explain the legal, political, and historical underpinnings of current practices that yield these perplexing outcomes as well as the implications of this aporia of citizenship for the rule of law more generally in the United States and elsewhere.       

This lecture is free and open to all. Registration is not required to attend in person.