In this discussion, Yale Law School Sterling Professsor Emeritus Owen Fiss reflects upon his time advising Argentinian President Raúl Alfonsín and his administration during the human rights trials that the country conducted in the mid 1980s. From that experience, Professor Fiss came to see human rights as universal social ideals that are also deeply rooted in a country's processes of national self-determination. In his talk, Professor Fiss explains how states engaging in the transition from dictatorship to democracy, like Argentina, can protect human rights through civil, not just criminal, proceedings. Professor Fiss also takes on the human rights issues posed by the fight against terrorism in the post-9/11 era within the context of national law