Civil Liberties in an Age of Terror

Spiegel Online International (Spiegel's English website) has an excellent, albeit long, piece on the delicate balancing act currently taking place between the war on terror and civil liberties. I suggest taking a look at it because it discusses many issues with which German law students are familiar. Sometimes reading complicated foreign language text is easier if the reader is already familiar with the topic. Furthermore, while we don't talk specifically in the FFA about some of the issues raised in the text, there are general principles with which all FFA students will recognize, especially those concerning Constitutional Law. For instance:

In addition, in any constitutional democracy government measures against terrorism and suspects of terrorism ought to be subject to review by an independent and neutral institution just as in non-exceptional cases. When civil liberties are concerned, the appropriate institution is the judiciary. Governments tend to invoke the grand values when it comes to fighting terrorism, and they paint gloomy pictures in order to justify extraordinary means. Courts operate from a certain distance, do not have to look to the next election, and can employ a more sober view. There is no good reason to exempt anti-terror measures from judicial scrutiny. In delicate cases in-camera procedures are better than no judicial control at all.