Michael Ratner
Encyclopedia
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights
Center for Constitutional Rights
Al Odah v. United States:Al Odah is the latest in a series of habeas corpus petitions on behalf of people imprisoned at the Guantanamo Bay detention center. The case challenges the Military Commissions system’s suitability as a habeas corpus substitute and the legality, in general, of detention at...
(CCR), a non-profit human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
litigation organization based in New York, New York and president of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights
European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights
The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights is a human rights organisation founded in Berlin in 2007 by a group of lawyers. The current president is Michael Ratner....
(ECCHR) based in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
.
Ratner is known for his human rights activism.
He was co-counsel in representing the Guantanamo Bay
Guantanamo Bay detainment camp
The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a detainment and interrogation facility of the United States located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. The facility was established in 2002 by the Bush Administration to hold detainees from the war in Afghanistan and later Iraq...
detainees in the United States Supreme Court, where, in June 2004, the court decided his clients have the right to test the legality of their detentions in court. Ratner is also a past president of the National Lawyers Guild
National Lawyers Guild
The National Lawyers Guild is an advocacy group in the United States "dedicated to the need for basic and progressive change in the structure of our political and economic system . ....
and the author of numerous books and articles, including the booksThe Trial of Donald Rumsfeld: A Prosecution by Book, Against War with Iraq and Guantanamo: What the World Should Know, as well as a textbook on international human rights. Ratner is also the co-host of the radio program, Law and Disorder
Law and Disorder (radio program)
Law and Disorder is an hour long radio program that broadcasts weekly from WBAI, part of the Pacifica Radio Network. The program focuses on legal issues and is hosted by the President of the Center for Constitutional Rights Michael Ratner, Heidi Boghosian Executive Director of the National Lawyers...
. He and three other attorneys host the Pacifica radio
Pacifica Radio
Pacifica Radio is the oldest public radio network in the United States. It is a group of five independently operated, non-commercial, listener-supported radio stations that is known for its progressive/liberal political orientation. It is also a program service supplying over 100 affiliated...
show that reports legal developments related to civil liberties
Civil liberties
Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...
, civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
and human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
.
Ratner is the brother of radio talk show
Talk show
A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....
host and Fox News contributor Ellen Ratner
Ellen Ratner
Ellen Ratner is a news analyst on the Fox News Channel and appears on The Strategy Room and The Long and Short of It. She is also White House Correspondent and Bureau Chief for the Talk Radio News Service, covering the White House and is heard on over 400 radio stations across the US...
and New Jersey Nets
New Jersey Nets
The New Jersey Nets are a professional basketball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...
owner, Bruce Ratner
Bruce Ratner
Bruce Ratner is an American real estate developer and is a current minority owner of the NBA's New Jersey Nets...
. He is a 1966 graduate of Brandeis University
Brandeis University
Brandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...
. He received his law degree from Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School, founded in 1858, is one of the oldest and most prestigious law schools in the United States. A member of the Ivy League, Columbia Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Columbia University in New York City. It offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. degrees in...
.
Academic, activist, attorney and author
Teaching posts
Ratner has been teaching law since the early 1970s. Currently, he lectures on international human rights litigation at Columbia Law SchoolColumbia Law School
Columbia Law School, founded in 1858, is one of the oldest and most prestigious law schools in the United States. A member of the Ivy League, Columbia Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Columbia University in New York City. It offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. degrees in...
, and he was a lecturer and the J. Skelly Wright
J. Skelly Wright
James Skelly Wright was a judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and anti-segregationist. The J...
Fellow at Yale
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
Law School.
Activism
Ratner opposes Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuseAbu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse
Beginning in 2004, human rights violations in the form of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse, including torture, rape, sodomy, and homicide of prisoners held in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq came to public attention...
and the Iraq War. In January 2006, he served as an expert witness at a mock tribunal
Tribunal
A tribunal in the general sense is any person or institution with the authority to judge, adjudicate on, or determine claims or disputes—whether or not it is called a tribunal in its title....
staged by the Bush Crimes Commission at Columbia University.
Civil liberties and human rights counsel
In 2006 he filed a criminal complaint in the courts of GermanyGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
requesting the criminal prosecution of US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Henry Rumsfeld is an American politician and businessman. Rumsfeld served as the 13th Secretary of Defense from 1975 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford, and as the 21st Secretary of Defense from 2001 to 2006 under President George W. Bush. He is both the youngest and the oldest person to...
and other US officials for the abuse and torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
at Abu Ghraib prison
Abu Ghraib prison
The Baghdad Central Prison, formerly known as Abu Ghraib prison is in Abu Ghraib, an Iraqi city 32 km west of Baghdad. It was built by British contractors in the 1950s....
.
Ratner served as a special counsel to Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
an President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Jean-Bertrand Aristide is a Haitian former Catholic priest and politician who served as Haiti's first democratically elected president. A proponent of liberation theology, Aristide was appointed to a parish in Port-au-Prince in 1982 after completing his studies...
, assisting in the prosecution of human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
crimes. Ratner sued the George H. W. Bush administration to try to stop the Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
, the Clinton administration to try to stop the strategic bombing during the Kosovo War, and he won a case on behalf of victims of the Bosnian
Bosnians
Bosnians are people who reside in, or come from, Bosnia and Herzegovina. By the modern state definition a Bosnian can be anyone who holds citizenship of the state. This includes, but is not limited to, members of the constituent ethnic groups of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Bosniaks, Bosnian Serbs and...
Serb leader, Radovan Karadzic
Radovan Karadžic
Radovan Karadžić is a former Bosnian Serb politician. He is detained in the United Nations Detention Unit of Scheveningen, accused of war crimes committed against Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats during the Siege of Sarajevo, as well as ordering the Srebrenica massacre.Educated as a...
, for war crimes.
The Center for Constitutional Rights
The Center for Constitutional RightsCenter for Constitutional Rights
Al Odah v. United States:Al Odah is the latest in a series of habeas corpus petitions on behalf of people imprisoned at the Guantanamo Bay detention center. The case challenges the Military Commissions system’s suitability as a habeas corpus substitute and the legality, in general, of detention at...
, which Ratner leads, states that its mission it to defend civil liberties
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
in the US. The group's efforts have included a legal challenge to the USA PATRIOT Act
USA PATRIOT Act
The USA PATRIOT Act is an Act of the U.S. Congress that was signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001...
and a lawsuit on behalf of post-9/11 immigration detainees in the US. The Center also representated Maher Arar
Maher Arar
Maher Arar is a telecommunications engineer with dual Syrian and Canadian citizenship who resides in Canada. Arar's story is frequently referred to as "extraordinary rendition" but the U.S. government insisted it was a case of deportation.Arar was detained during a layover at John F...
, a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
citizen who was sent, or "rendered
Rendition (law)
In law, rendition is a "surrender" or "handing over" of persons or property, particularly from one jurisdiction to another. For criminal suspects, extradition is the most common type of rendition. Rendition can also be seen as the act of handing over, after the request for extradition has taken...
", to Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, where he was tortured. Ratner and his office have also sued two private military companies working as part of the occupation of Iraq, alleging their employees were involved in the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse
Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse
Beginning in 2004, human rights violations in the form of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse, including torture, rape, sodomy, and homicide of prisoners held in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq came to public attention...
.
Writings
Ratner has published books and written newspaper articles about the Patriot Act, military tribunalsGuantanamo military commission
The Guantanamo military commissions are military tribunals created by the Military Commissions Act of 2006 for prosecuting detainees held in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps.- History :...
, and the restriction of civil liberties since the 2001 US attacks. These writings include chapters in the books Disappeared in America, Freedom at Risk, It’s a Free Country, Lost Liberties. He authored a textbook on the case of Joel Filartiga, a Paraguay
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
an who won a 1984 judgment against the dictatorship
Dictatorship
A dictatorship is defined as an autocratic form of government in which the government is ruled by an individual, the dictator. It has three possible meanings:...
of Alfredo Stroessner
Alfredo Stroessner
Alfredo Stroessner Matiauda, whose name is also spelled Strössner or Strößner , was a Paraguayan military officer and dictator from 1954 to 1989...
for his son's murder in a US court. That case established a legal precedent now used frequently] by foreigners filing suit for human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
abuses, under the Alien Tort Claims Act, in US courts.
Recognition and board appointments
- 2009, Courage of Conviction Award on behalf of the University of Iowa Center for Human Rights
- 2008, William J. Butler Human Rights Medal from the Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights at the University of Cincinnati College of Law for leadership on behalf of the Center for Constitutional Rights for the defense of prisoners on Guantanamo.
- 2007, Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative CitizenshipPuffin/Nation Prize for Creative CitizenshipThe Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship is an American award citation given jointly by the Nation Institute and the Puffin Foundation. The annual $100,000 award honors artists and others for “socially responsible work” and challenges to authority...
- 2006, The National Law JournalThe National Law JournalThe National Law Journal, a U.S. periodical founded in 1978, reports legal information of national importance to attorneys, including federal circuit court decisions, verdicts, practitioners' columns, coverage of legislative issues and legal news for the business and private sectors.The...
named Ratner as one of the 100 most influential lawyers in the United States. - 2006, Honored as the Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Trial Lawyers for Public Justice.
- 2006, Brandeis UniversityBrandeis UniversityBrandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...
Alumni achievement award; - 2006, Lennon Ono Peace Grant from Yoko OnoYoko Onois a Japanese artist, musician, author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon...
on behalf of the Center for Constitutional Rights - 2006, Winner of the Letelier-Moffit award from the Institute for Policy Studies on behalf of the Center for Constitutional Rights and the NYC Jobs with Justice award.
- 2006, Winner of Hans Litten Prize, named after a famous anti-fascist lawyer who was tortured to death by the Nazis. Awarded in Berlin
- 2005, Winner of The Columbia Law School Public Interest Law Foundation Award, and the Columbia Law School Medal of Honor
- 2005, Winner of the North Star Community Frederick DouglassFrederick DouglassFrederick Douglass was an American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman. After escaping from slavery, he became a leader of the abolitionist movement, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writing...
Award, and Honorary Fellow University of PennsylvaniaUniversity of PennsylvaniaThe University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
Law School - 2005, Winner of the Marshall T. Meyer Risk-Taker Award
Ratner is the President of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights in Berlin and serves on the boards of non-profits including The Culture Project and The Brandeis Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life, and The Real News (TRNN).
Quotes related to human rights
- "Alberto GonzalesAlberto GonzalesAlberto R. Gonzales was the 80th Attorney General of the United States. Gonzales was appointed to the post in February 2005 by President George W. Bush. Gonzales was the first Hispanic Attorney General in U.S. history and the highest-ranking Hispanic government official ever...
has his hand deep in the blood of the conspiracyConspiracy (crime)In the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement...
of torture." - "Can the United States pick up people anywhere in the world, take them to an offshore prison camp and not have any hearings at all and keep them forever and basically wipe out court review of those cases? That's really significant. Are we going to be a state that's ruled by law and by checks and balances and the ConstitutionUnited States ConstitutionThe Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
and human rights?" - Guantanamo is "an offshore Devil's IslandDevil's IslandDevil's Island is the smallest and northernmost island of the three Îles du Salut located about 6 nautical miles off the coast of French Guiana . It has an area of 14 ha . It was a small part of the notorious French penal colony in French Guiana until 1952...
has no place in a country that claims it abides by the rule of law. The test now is to see if the Democrats cut the funding off for this human rights abomination."
Publications
BOOKS- 1996, International Human Rights Litigation in U.S. Courts (with Beth Stephens), Transnational Publishers, ISBN 0-941320-95-2
- 1997, Che GuevaraChe GuevaraErnesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...
and the FBI: U.S. Political Police Dossier on the Latin American Revolutionary, Ocean Press, ISBN 1-875284-76-1 - 2000, The Pinochet Papers: The Case of Augusto PinochetAugusto PinochetAugusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte, more commonly known as Augusto Pinochet , was a Chilean army general and dictator who assumed power in a coup d'état on 11 September 1973...
in SpainSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and Britain (with Brody), Kluwer - 2003, Against War with Iraq: An Anti-War Primer (with Jennie Green and Barbara Olshansky), Open Media, ISBN 1-58322-591-9
- 2004, Guantanamo: What the World Should Know (with Ellen Ray), Chelsea Green Publishing Company, ISBN 1-931498-64-4
- 2008 International Human Rights Litigation in U.S. Courts with Beth Stephens, Judith Chomsky, Jennifer Green, Paul Hoffman, ISBN 978-1571053534
- 2008 "The Prosecution of Donald Rumsfeld: A Prosecution by Book" ISBN 1595583416
Book chapters
- 2004, America's Disappeared: Secret Imprisonment, Detainees, and the "War on TerrorWar on TerrorThe War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
" (with Barbara Olshansky and Rachel Meeropol), ISBN 1-58322-645-1 - 2006 “Civil Remedies for Gross Human Rights Violations” Human Rights in the World Community: Issues And Action (Richard Pierre Claude, Burns H. Weston) University of Pennsylvania Press
- 2003 “The War on Terrorism: Guantanamo Prisoners, Military Commissions and Torture” in Lost Liberties: Ashcroft and the Assault on Personal Freedom (edited by Cynthia Brown), The New Press
- “International Law” (with Jules Lobel) Power Trip: U.S. Unilateralism and Global Strategy After September 11 (John Feffer), Seven Stories Press, 2003
Articles
- 1988, "Freedom at Risk; It's a Free Country: Secrecy, CensorshipCensorshipthumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
, and Repression in the 1980s" (edited by Richard O. Curry),Temple University Press - 1998, "How We Closed the Guantanamo HIV Camp: The Intersection of Politics and Litigation"
- 1999, "Bypassing the Security Council: Ambiguous Authorizations to Use Force, Cease Fires, and the Iraqi Inspection Regime, (with Lobel)
- 2003, "Lost Liberties: Ashcroft and the Assault on Personal Freedom (edited by Cynthia Brown), The New Press
- 2008 "The Lawyer’s Story” in The Coroma Textile Recovery Story
- 2007 “Guantanamo: Five Years and Counting” (with Sara Miles) Salon.com
- 2007 “War Criminals “Is Waterboarding Torture? Ask the Prisoners” Salon.com November 6, 2007
- 2007 “Above the Law” (with Sara Miles), Salon.com, March 31, 2007
- 2006 “Keep the Great Writ Alive” (with Sara Miles) Salon.com, September 26, 2006
- 2005 “Wrong About Rights” (with Sara Miles) Salon.com, November 10, 2005
External links
- CCR-NY.org - Center for Constitutional RightsCenter for Constitutional RightsAl Odah v. United States:Al Odah is the latest in a series of habeas corpus petitions on behalf of people imprisoned at the Guantanamo Bay detention center. The case challenges the Military Commissions system’s suitability as a habeas corpus substitute and the legality, in general, of detention at...
- HumanRightsNow.org - 'Human Rights Lawyer Michael Ratner' (home page)
- Lannan Podcasts: Michael Ratner with mary-Charlotte Domandi
- The Autonomist - Michael Ratner and CCR: Fighting Against the War on Terror
- CounterPunch.org - 'Moving Toward A Police State (Or Have We Arrived?): Secret Military Tribunals, Mass Arrests and Disappearances, Wiretapping & Torture', Michael Ratner (November 20, 2001)
- DemocracyNow.org - 'Michael Ratner: Gonzales "Has His Hand Deep in the Blood of the Conspiracy Of Torture"', Democracy Now (January 28, 2005)
- WashingtonPost.com - 'Statutes of Liberty: Michael Ratner Is In Hot Pursuit Of Justice for Guantanamo Detainees', Lynne Duke, Washington Post (December 19, 2003)
- Just Left blog
- ZMag.org - 'Michael Ratner's ZNet HomePage'