ALTHOUGH THE BEST-LAID PLANS ARE LIKELY TO CHANGE if a pandemic or bioterrorism attack hits the United States, having no plans in place is a sure guarantee for disaster. That’s what Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told attendees of the Germ Warfare, Contagious Disease and the Constitution symposium held in Washington, D.C., in April. The event, hosted by the Stanford Constitutional Law Center (SCLC) and the Constitution Project, a nonprofit public policy organization, brought together policymakers and constitutional experts to discuss how state and federal officials might respond to epidemics while protecting individual rights. Stanley Morrison Professor of Law and former Dean Kathleen M. Sullivan, who directs SCLC, moderated an afternoon panel that included Pamela S. Karlan, Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law, and Robert Weisberg ’79, Edwin E. Huddleson, Jr. Professor of Law.

Earlier in the day, about 60 legal scholars and public officials—including former Secretary of Defense William Perry (BS ’49, MS ’50) and former California Governor Gray Davis (BA ’64)—participated in a closed-door roundtable discussion of a fictitious scenario that explored federal and state governments’ possible responses to an unfolding deadly epidemic as it crossed state lines. Participants included officials from the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, the military, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other agencies.

Watching the action was a group of third-year Stanford Law students who played a key role in preparing for the exercise. As part of a spring Constitutional Law Workshop, the students developed legal briefs written from the perspective of an individual, a state government, and the federal government. The briefs were provided to conference participants, who used them during the simulated exercise to inform discussions of how the scenario might play out in court in a real crisis. Most of the workshop’s 12 students attended the conference thanks to Peter S. Bing (BA ’55), who provided support for the initiative.

“Students had a wonderful opportunity to talk with policymakers and to see the interplay between legal advice and policy formation,” says SCLC Fellow Laura K. Donohue ’07, who initiated the event and is the author of a new book, The Cost of Counterterrorism. “More broadly, the conference stimulated a deeper discussion about how current laws should be changed to take account of emerging national security threats as well as constitutional concerns.” — with reporting from Lisa Trei