Session Abstract

This roundtable session examines the role of the historian as expert witness in public litigation proceedings.  Legal representatives, both for the prosecution and defense, often turn to historians when a witness is needed to present a complex set of facts about events which occurred in the past—events for which there are often no living eyewitnesses.  Historians are trained through their discipline to impart authentic data , to synthesize research and analysis, and to present critical evidence in a comprehensive and compelling way.  Historians represent only a small fraction of testifying experts in U.S. litigation cases; their presence is most customary in those legal actions involving land rights and environmental issues, deportation and denaturalization proceedings, and in tort cases associated with tobacco, or with the use of toxic substances.  The discussants of this roundtable represent a cross-section of these experiences.  Peter Black will detail  his former role as chief historian of the Office of the Special Investigations, in which his expert testimony led to the denaturalization of Nazi perpetrators living as citizens on American soil.  As a senior historian for the Department of Justice’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section, Jeffrey Richter explores the role of an expert witness in the case of Rwandan genocide.  A veteran of expert witness testimony for the Justice Department and other agencies, Fredric Quivik describes two case studies in environmental litigation, in which historical expertise must be balanced and enhanced with technical and scientific dimensions. Legal historian and session chair Devin Pendas brings to the roundtable his knowledge of the historical role of expert witnesses in war crimes and human rights cases.