Leonard M. Cutler

 As an undergraduate I majored in Political Science with a pre-law concentration,and in graduate school I studied Public Law and I received my Phd. from the New School University.I have been teaching Constitutional and Criminal Law,as well as International Security Law as part of our Pre-law Certificate program at Siena College and these areas directly relate to my research and scholarship interests.Since 9/11/2001,I have devoted considerable time to investigating human rights issues as they relate to American national security interests,and I have provided testimony to the United states Congress and the Obama Administration on war powers,NSA surveillance,and presidential power.

I currently Chair the Political Science Department,direct the Center for the Study of Government and Politics,and serve on the Advisory Board of Albany Law School.

My Siena Experience

My Teaching Philosophy

 My teaching philosophy is straight forward.My students and I actively engage in Socratic dialogue addressing a vast array of issues that essentially express how we want to live as individuals in our society.We interactively engage with each other in examining what powers government should  exercise?What rights and liberties remain with us?After all,basic questions of philosophy and conscience are at stake.I truly believe that to effectively teach Law you must focus on history,economics,sociology,ethics,and philosophy.It is a vital part of all of these components of life and law is a dynamic discipline.

It is my hope that in my teaching of the law that my students are learning from me as I am learning from them.I see teaching as a mutually beneficial process that provides rewards for all who are involved.

What I Love About Siena

 First,last,and always it is about the students.Teaching at Siena gives me the opportunity to get my juices going to interact and engage with my students both inside and outside the classroom.It is refreshing for me to place students in the field in Internship experiences and to see them flourish whether it be working with a Senator,member of the Assembly,a governmental agency,a local Judge or Attorney,or for that matter,a not-for -profit advocacy organization.Additionally,our unique,one of a kind program, Summer Legal Fellows affords our students eight weeks of  living and breathing the law under the direct supervision of law professors, working with second and third year law students on legal policy research,as well as actual pending legal cases in a court setting.This is experiential learning at its best and I love being afforded the benefit of working with these students and directly benefiting from their out of classroom research and scholarship.

My Favorite Courses to Teach

 As is clear my favorite classes are the case law courses that I teach every semester.These include,Constitutional Law,Criminal Law,Civil Liberties,and 4th,5th,6th Amendments because I teach in the Socratic fashion.That means that the students and I are interactively engaging and dialoging with one another for the entire class,back and forth,on issues,problems and perspectives related to the legal issues that we are examining.I do not,and will not,lecture to my students.That is not the way to teach the law.The subject matter in every one of these classes is part of what we face as members of our society on a regular basis,and that is why I enjoy teaching them as much as I do.They are timely,and never static.

My Professional Experience

Current Research

My research interests were clearly impacted by the horribly destructive terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on 9/11/2001.I have since authored several books,articles,and made presentations at Conferences on the President's War Powers,the Use of Electronic Spying,and most recently the Use of Drone Technology in destroying terrorist havens in other countries,as well as the policy of Targeted Killing of terrorists who are found in other nations plotting against the United States.Needless to say,all of these issues have their supporters and opponents and that is what makes the research all the more interesting for me .

Articles & Book Reviews

• Targeted Killing of Avowed Terrorists: Three US Presidents and Three Cases in Point
  JURIST Legal News & Commentary
  2022
• Will Guantanamo Continue As An Unnecessary Presidential Legacy?
  JURIST Legal News & Commentary
  2021
• Conventional Wisdom? Analyzing Public Support for 2017 NY Constitutional Convention Referendum
  State & Local Government Review, vol. 51
  2019
• President Barack Obama's Counterterrorism Strategy and Legacy: The Case of Afghanistan
  PS: Political Science & Politics
  2017
• Guantanamo, Fifteen Years After 9/11: An Unnecessary Presidential Legacy.
  JURIST Legal News & Commentary
  2016
• Summer Legal Fellows: A Ten Year Retrospective
  Pre-Law Advisors National Conference
  2012
• Bush vs.Obama Detainee Policy Post 9/11: An Assessment
  Strategic Studies Quarterly, vol. 4
  2010
• Human Rights Guarantees, Constitutional Law and the Military Commissions Act of 2006
  Peace & Change
  2008
• Indefinite Detention of Enemy Combatants Post 9/11 and National Security Policy
  Journal of Policy History
  2007
• Enemy Combatants and Guantanamo: The Rule of Law and Law of War Post 9/11
  Peace & Change
  2006
• Military Commissions in Historical Perspective: A Commentary on the Research of Louis B. Fisher
  American Historical Review
  2006
• International Terrorism and the Doctrine of 'Inter Arma Silent Leges,'
  Journal of Law and International Policy
  2002
• Abscam: Congressional Independence and the Separation of Powers Doctrine
  American Journal of Criminal Justice
  1982
• Legislative Direction for Balanced Growth in the Northeast
  American Institute of Planners Journal
  1978

Awards & Distinctions

•  
  Category: Service-University
  Siena College, 2012
• Recipient of the 2010 Raymond Kennedy Excellence in Scholarship Award.
  Category: Other
  Raymond Kennedy Excellence in Scholarship Award, 2010
• Selected as a contributing author to Strategic Studies Quarterly, 2010.
  Category: Other
  Strategic Studies Quarterly, 2010
• Selected as a Forum/Column Consultant to Jurist/Legal News and Research. Topics of focus include: Guantanamo, Military Justice, Surveillance, and National Security Policy, 2008.
  Category: Other
  Jurist/Legal News and Research, 2008
• Appointed by Chief Judge Judith Kaye of the New York State Court of Appeals as a member of the NYS Judicial Screening Commission, 2007.
  Category: Other
  NYS Judicial Screening Commission, 2007
• Selected Faculty Advisor of the Year, Student Senate Award, 2007.
  Category: Other
  Siena College Student Senate, 2007
• Adele Mellen Award for Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship 2005.
  Category: Other
  Adele Mellen Award, 2005
• Certificate of Merit for Creative Scholarship, American Society of International Law, 2005.
  Category: Other
  American Society of International Law, 2005
• Nominated Finalist, C. Herman Pritchett Award of the American Political Science Association for best book on Law and the Courts, 2005.
  Category: Other
  American Political Science Association, 2005
• Summer Research Fellowship  Military Commissions 2003.
  Category: Other
  Summer Research Fellowship, 2003
• Jerome Walton Excellence In Teaching Award Recipient, 2001.
  Category: Other
  Jerome Walton Excellence In Teaching Award, 2001
• Outstanding Teaching in Political Science Award, American Political Science Association, 2001.
  Category: Other
  American Political Science Association, 2001
• Harvey Fellowship with Peter Rydell Research Scholarship 1996.
  Class of 1997.
  Category: Other
  Harvey Fellowship, 1997
• Nelson Rockefeller Institute of Government Public Policy Leadership
  Series 1990.
  Category: Other
  Nelson Rockefeller Institute of Government, 1990
• Kennedy School of Government Fellow Alfred Taubman Center for State
  And Local Government 1988.
  Category: Other
  Kennedy School of Government Fellow, 1988
• Recipient of Anderson Award Outstanding Research in Criminal
  Justice for Study of Abscam,     American Academy of Criminal
  Justice, 1982.
  Category: Other
  Recipient of Anderson Award, 1982

Books & Book Chapters

• President Trump's National Security Strategy Non-Doctrine: An Assessment
  Nova Science Publications
  2022
• The Barack Obama Presidency: Legacy and Record
  Palgrave Macmillan
  2022
• The Future of the Middle East
  Nova Science Publications
  2020
• President Obama's Counterterrorism Strategy In The War On Terror: An Assessment
  Palgrave Macmillan
  2017
• The Presidential Election of 2012
  
  2013
• The Obama Presidency: A Preliminary Assessment
  SUNY Press
  2012
• Ten Ways to Lose the War on Terror
  Routledge Press, United Kingdom
  2010
• Developments in National Security Policy Since 9/11: The Separate Role of the President, Congress and the Supreme Court
  Edwin Mellen Press
  2008
• The Rule of Law and the Law of War: Military Commissions and Enemy Combatants Post 9/11
  Edwin Mellen Press
  2005

Presentations

• Summer Legal Fellows: A Ten Year Retrospective
  2012
  Pre-Law Advisors National Conference, Washington, District of Columbia