Biography

A leading voice in international human rights and humanitarian law, Barbara Olshansky joined Stanford Law School in 2007 to teach international law and direct the International Human Rights Clinic’s efforts to launch an in-country clinical program in Namibia. Professor Olshansky is known for her groundbreaking work on the 2004 Rasul v. Bush case, in which the Supreme Court of the United States overruled a lower court ruling and found that American courts have jurisdiction over claims brought by Guantánamo detainees who are foreign nationals. She is also the co-author of several books, including Against War with Iraq and Democracy Detained: Secret, Unconstitutional Practices in the U.S. War on Terror.

Previously, Professor Olshansky led the Global Justice Initiative at the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), and was its deputy legal director litigating civil and human rights cases. She also served as senior attorney with the Environmental Defense Fund and practiced union-side labor and plaintiff’s employment discrimination law at Vladeck, Waldman, Elias & Engelhard, P. C. in New York City. After graduating from Stanford Law, where she helped establish the East Palo Alto Community Law Project, Professor Olshansky clerked for California Supreme Court Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird.

In the News

• The Truth Is In There
  Village Voice, July 09, 2008
• Can The Guantanamo Ruling Fix America's Image?
  Middle East Times, July 03, 2008
• In Courts, Afghanistan Air Base May Become Next Guantanamo
  The Washington Post, June 29, 2008
• Lawyers Consider Implications Of Supreme Court Rulings Beyond Guantanamo
  Law.com, June 16, 2008
• Supreme Court Grants Guantánamo Bay Detainees Access to Civilian Court System
  WNYC Radio and Public Radio International - The TakeAway, June 13, 2008

Courses & Programs

Courses

• Guantánamo, Law, and the War on Terror

Programs

• International Human Rights Clinic, Leah Kaplan Visiting Professor in Human Rights

Publications & Cases

• Barbara Olshansky, Democracy Detained: Secret Unconstitutional Practices in the U.S. War on Terror, New York: Seven Stories Press, August 2007.