View source for User:George Swan/sandbox/Benjamin G. Davis

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{{Infobox Person
| name        = Benjamin G. Davis
| image       = 
| alt         = 
| caption     = 
| birth_date  = <!-- {{Birth year and age|YYYY}} -->
| birth_place = 
| death_date  = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (death date then birth date) -->
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| nationality = USA
| other_names = 
| known_for   = defended individuals held at Guantanamo 
| occupation  = law professor
}} 
'''Benjamin G. Davis''' is a widely published [[United States|American]] lawyer and Professor of Law.<ref name=ToledoFreePress20070713>
{{cite news
| url=http://www.toledofreepress.com/?id=5937
| title=Keep Our Honor Clean
| author=[[Benjamin G. Davis (Law Professor)|Benjamin Davis]]
| publisher=[[Toledo Free Press]]
| date=[[July 13]] [[2007]]
}}</ref><ref name=TransnationalDisputeManagementBenDavis>
{{cite web
| publisher=[[Transnational Dispute Management]]
| url=http://www.transnational-dispute-management.com/authors/author_detail.asp?key=782
| title=Contributing Authors: Benjamin G. Davis
| accessdate=July 14
| accessyear=2007
}}</ref>
He taught [[International Law]] at the [[University of Toledo]] [[University of Toledo College of Law|College of Law]] until his retirement in 2021.

==Early life==

Davis's parents worked for the [[United States Foreign Service]].<ref name=TransnationalDisputeManagementBenDavis/>

{| class="wikitable"
| 1973 || [[Phillips Exeter Academy]]
|-
| 1977 || [[Harvard College]]
|-
| 1983 || [[Harvard Business School]] 
|-
| 1983 || [[Harvard Law School]]
|}

==Legal career==

Between 1983 and 2000 Davis worked outside the USA in a variety of roles in [[International Development]], International Commerce, and International Law.<ref name=TransnationalDisputeManagementBenDavis/>

Davis first American teaching post was at the [[Texas Wesleyan University]] [[Texas Wesleyan University School of Law|School of Law]] in 2000.  In 2003 he transferred to the University of Toledo.<ref name=TransnationalDisputeManagementBenDavis/>

===Testified on behalf of Ehren Watada===

Davis testified before a "[[Citizens' hearing on the legality of U.S. actions in Iraq]]" that considered the case of [[Lieutenant]] [[Ehren Watada]].<ref name=CitizensTribunalEhrenWatada>
{{cite web
| date=[[January 20]] [[2007]]
| url=http://www.wartribunal.org/ 
| title=Citizens' hearing on the legality of U.S. actions in Iraq: The Case of Lt. Ehren Watada
| accessdate=July 14
| accessyear=2007
}}</ref>
Watada is an officer in the [[United States Army]] who declined to serve in [[Iraq]] because he believed the United States actions in Iraq are illegal.

===Davis's comments on Guantanamo detentions===

Davis wrote a notable critique of the [[George W. Bush|Bush Presidency's]] [[Bush detainee policy|detainee policy]], where he criticized the premise that captives taken by the USA during its war on terror, did not have any [[United States Constitution|Constitutional Rights]].<ref name=ToledoFreePress20070713/>

Davis's article raised seven numbered arguments for why [[Guantanamo captive]]s were protected by United States Law.<ref name=ToledoFreePress20070713/>  
Among the points he raised were that captives were protected from prosecution by the [[Geneva Conventions]], unless their status as [[lawful combatant]] was successfully challenged before a [[competent tribunal|competent authority]].  He pointed out that American captives are protected by American laws, such as the
[[Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act]].
He pointed out that [[Prisoners of War]] have been allowed to file [[habeas corpus|writs of habeas corpus]] in earlier conflicts, such as 
[[Hirota v. McCarthur]].

Davis called for the prosecution of those responsible for the Bush detainee policy<ref name=ToledoFreePress20070713/>:
{{quotation|"We also want the high level civilian and military generals who put this in place and permitted the violations of laws of war to be prosecuted – to lay a marker to the world and ourselves that we pay more than lip service to Geneva law - we comply with it."}}

He closed his article with the observation<ref name=ToledoFreePress20070713/>: {{quotation|"We have real enemies who want to hurt us.  The price of freedom is not only to fight – but also to keep our honor clean."}}

==Retirement==

Davis retired from the University of Toledo in 2021.<ref name=utoledoDavisRetires/>

==References==
{{Reflist|refs= 
<ref name=utoledoDavisRetires>
{{cite news     
| url         = https://www.utoledo.edu/law/faculty/emeriti/davis-ben.html
| title       = BENJAMIN G. DAVIS: PROFESSOR OF LAW EMERITUS
| work        = [[University of Toledo]]
| archiveurl  = https://web.archive.org/web/20210303060212/https://www.utoledo.edu/law/faculty/emeriti/davis-ben.html
| archivedate = 2021-03-03
| accessdate  = 2022-03-25
| url-status  = live
| quote       =  In 1986, he became the American legal counsel at the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) where he supervised directly or indirectly over 1,000 international commercial arbitration and mediation cases, made filings before courts around the world on behalf of the ICC, assisted with the drafting of arbitration laws in countries such as India and Sri Lanka, and led conferences in Eastern and Western Europe, North America, and Asia. 
}}
</ref>

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}}

==External links==
*{{cite news
| url=http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/hotline/2007/05/no-heroes-at-justice-department.php
| author=[[Benjamin G. Davis (Law Professor)|Ben Davis]]
| title=No heroes at the Justice Department 
| publisher=[[The Jurist]]
| date=[[May 18]] [[2007]]
| accessdate=2007-7-14
}}
*{{cite news
| url=http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/hotline/2007/04/beyond-orwell-existential-threat-of.php
| author=[[Benjamin G. Davis (Law Professor)|Ben Davis]]
| date=Friday, April 27, 2007
| title=Beyond Orwell: the existential threat of Guantanamo detainees 
| publisher=[[The Jurist]]
| accessdate=2007-7-14
}}