9/15/2006
Professor Susan N. Herman’s op-ed article, “Five Years Later: Law and the Fog of 9/11,” was published in the forum section of the online legal news and research Web site, JURIST, on September 11, 2006. In the article, Professor Herman argues that the lingering fog of the 9/11 attacks has clouded our perceptions, blurred our legal categories, and perhaps also compromised our judgment. She wrote, "Within a few weeks or months, 9/11 became a fount of law. On September 18, Congress authorized the President to use force to counter terrorism, and on October 26, with remarkable unanimity and little debate, Congress passed the USA PATRIOT Act, which confidently described itself as “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism.” By then, 9/11 had also become politics.