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The Guild Defends Your Right to Resist!
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 Cops Target Guild Legal Observers in Phoenix
"At protests from D.C. to Miami to Los Angeles to Philadelphia to Saint Paul, Guild Legal Observers have been arrested, shot with projectiles, tear-gassed, pepper-sprayed, and hit with batons, and we are still here to document misconduct." —Carol Sobel, Co-Chair, Guild Mass Defense Committee
“Arresting a young woman of color who is there as an attorney-observer demonstrates how irresponsible and un-American the Arizona action is. I fear Arizona is starting to act like Mississippi in the civil rights days.” —Bill Quigley, Legal Director, Center for Constitutional Rights
National Lawyers Guild statement on arrests in Phoenix of Roxana Orell and Sunita Patel here!
Center for Constitutional rights statement here!
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 Chicago loves Lynne Stewart!
We support our friend and comrade.
We admire her commitment to people's law.
We fear the attack on civil society when the state punishes a lawyer for zealously defending an unpopular client.
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Thanks, everyone, for making this event such a success!
Protecting Our Constitutional Values: What America Needs from the Supreme Court.
One Thursday evening in July, while Elena Kagan's nomination was before the Senate, we sat down with a stellar panel and a few dozen Chicago organizers and students to review right-wing judicial activism and the concerted attack on not only our civil liberties but on the institutions and foundation of civil society itself.
For those who think the law should be about justice and supporting a fully democratic society, this is a critical juncture.
The fundamental rights contained in the Bill of Rights, and in the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 19th amendments are being challenged. We believe in the values expressed in those rights, and we must articulate our vision of the role of a Supreme Court justice in giving meaning to those rights, and in upholding the principles contained in the Constitution and those Amendments.
Professor Geoffrey Stone, University of Chicago, keynoted this forum by articulating an overview of what it means to have a Supreme Court that —
- Upholds the Bill of Rights Reconstruction Amendments and the 19th Amendment, and —
- Recognizes the separation of powers in our Constitution that allows Congress to pass social and economic legislation (e.g. health care, the ADA, the Voting Rights Act).
Prof. Stone will also discuss the right wing canards of “activist judges” and “originalism.”
People's Law Office attorney and NLG Chicago board member Janine Hoft moderated a panel discussion including —
- Professor Geoff Stone
- ACLU of Illinois Executive Director Colleen Connell
- Carol Brook, Federal Defender for the Northern District of Illinois
- MacArthur Justice Center Assistant Director Joseph Margulies
- Civil rights lawyer Clyde Murphy
- MALDEF Midwest Regional Counsel Ricardo Meza
- MOPD Director of Compliance Joe Russo, and
- NIJC Executive Director Mary Meg McCarthy
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The panelists discussed how the Court should resolve issues in the areas of police misconduct and the Court’s decision last term in Iqbal; First Amendment rights; discrimination in employment, voting, housing, and education, including a discussion of Ricci from last term; immigration; the rights of peoples with disabilities; the abuse of government power, torture, Guantanamo, extraordinary rendition, and military commissions; reproductive rights, privacy, and Gay / Lesbian marriage; and criminal defense. Panelists will also discuss what is known (positive and negative) about former Solicitor General Kagan and what role she can be expected to play on the Court.
Sponsored by: National Lawyers Guild Chicago, ACLU of Illinois, Chicago Lawyer Chapter of the American Constitution Society, the Midwest Regional Office of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Chicago Chapter of the National Conference of Black Lawyers, and the National Immigrant Justice Center.
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Guild Statement on SCOTUS Nomination
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We Demanded a Justice Worthy of the Title
 Guild Called for Value Shift in Supreme Court Nomination
This was our statement prior to the president's nomination, on May 10, of Solicitor General Elena Kagan. Shortly after that announcement, NLG Past President Marjorie Cohn wrote that Kagan will move the Court to the right.
With President Obama poised to select his second Supreme Court nominee, the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) advocates for a return to justices worthy of the title -- justices who will put the interests of the downtrodden above those of transnational corporations, who will not compromise on the rights of women to reproductive justice, who will stand for true racial justice rather than the “blind justice” that preserves the status quo of white privilege, and who will protect the people against a government that cloaks itself in secrecy and invades the most private aspects of their lives.
Whomever President Obama nominates to replace Justice John Paul Stevens will be reviled by many as a radical, socialist, activist judge. Stevens, a conscientious and principled jurist, has been labeled “left” only because, as he himself asserts, the Court has, over the last two generations, moved so far to the right. In that time, due in significant part to a number of Supreme Court decisions, economic inequality has increased dramatically.
Most recently, the Court expanded corporations' rights to freedom of speech, even though they have no attributes of living, breathing, sentient beings. In addition, school integration -– and thus the opportunity for poor African-Americans and other people of color to attend better schools -– has come to a grinding halt. And the Chamber of Commerce’s priorities dominate the decisions of the Supreme Court and routinely deprive workers of their rights.
The NLG will not be satisfied with the nomination of a centrist, mainstream justice who will do little or nothing to reverse the routine elevation of corporate interests over individual rights. For example, potential nominees such as Elena Kagan, who calls for indefinite detention of terrorist suspects without trial and defines terrorism to include protected speech, are unacceptable.
President Obama will not nominate the kind of justice the times call for without a unified demand from the people.
“The right-wing demagogues cannot go unchallenged in defining the debate," said NLG President David Gespass. "There will be at least one voice saying a centrist is not good enough and that a moderate is no liberal. Our views will prevail because we speak for the interests of the people of the United States and the world,” Gespass predicted.
The National Lawyers Guild was founded in 1937 and is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has chapters in every state.
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New Book by People's Law Office Co-Founder Jeffrey Haas
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The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther
by Jeffrey Hass
It’s around 7:00 A.M. on December 4, 1969, and attorney Jeff Haas is in a police lockup in Chicago, interviewing Fred Hampton’s fiancée. She is describing how the police pulled her from the room as Fred lay unconscious on their bed. She heard one officer say, “He’s still alive.” She then heard two shots. A second officer said, “He’s good and dead now.” She looks at Jeff and asks, “What can you do?”
The Assassination of Fred Hampton is Haas’s personal account of how he and People’s Law Office partner Flint Taylor pursued Hampton’s assassins, ultimately prevailing over unlimited government resources and FBI conspiracy. Not only a story of justice delivered, the book puts Hampton in a new light as a dynamic community leader and an inspiration in the fight against injustice.
Jeffrey Haas is an attorney and cofounder of the People's Law Office, whose clients included the Black Panthers, Students for a Democratic Society, community activists, and a large number of those opposed to the Vietnam War. He has handled cases involving prisoners' rights, Puerto Rican nationalists, protestors opposed to human rights violations in Central America, police torture, and the wrongfully accused.
For information about ordering this book about an important piece of Chicago history, written by an NLG attorney, please visit www.chicagoreviewpress.com/catalog/showBook.cfm.
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We Really Do Rely on Your Donatations!
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 When Corporations are Legal Persons, Real People Need the Guild!
NLG Chicago receives no corporate-philanthropic or foundation dollars.
The donations that keep us going are small contributions from private individuals.
We provide free referrals to members of the public.
Our green-hatted Legal Observers are visible at dozens of demonstrations a year.
Send checks, payable to NLG Chicago, to:
NLG Chicago
637 South Dearborn, 3rd Fl.
Chicago, IL 60605
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| Guild Renews Boycott Call in Wake of Flotilla MassacreNational Lawyers Guild Renews Call for Boycott of Israel in Wake of Flotilla Assault
Contact: David Gespass, NLG President, 205-566-2530
New York -- The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) renews its call for a complete boycott of Israel in light of the latest unjustified assault on peaceful humanitarian assistance to the residents of Gaza in which at least ten human rights workers were killed.
The NLG has supported the movement for boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against Israel for several years, based on Israel's ongoing violations of the rights of the Palestinian people. A Guild delegation to Gaza after the December 27, 2008, Israeli attack there found overwhelming evidence of violations of international law by the Israeli military, as did the UN Report of Justice Richard Goldstone. Israel's assault on the flotilla of ships bringing aid to Palestine demonstrates, once again, that Israel is a rogue state acting with impunity and with the support of the United States government.
The Israeli commandos' claim that they were attacked first is belied by the facts of open aggression, with the commandos rappelling from helicopters onto the ships, which were on international waters.
In the face of this latest violation of human rights and international law, the NLG calls on every person of conscience to boycott travel to Israel and the purchase of Israeli goods, on every investor to divest of any Israeli corporate stocks and on all UN member states to impose sanctions against Israel commensurate with its continuing violations of the human rights of the Palestinian people. We further call for an immediate investigation of the actions of the commandos and prosecution of the perpetrators of these latest crimes against humanity.
The National Lawyers Guild, founded in 1937, is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has chapters in every state. |
| Stop Attacks on Immigrants
Immigration law SB-1070, signed on April 23, 2010 by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, is the latest piece of racist anti-immigrant legislation sweeping across the country. Titled “Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act,” the law not only requires local police to enforce federal immigration law, but also mandates that immigrants carry papers with them at all times.
This reactionary legislation does not stand alone. Two prominent government programs gaining in popularity—Secure Communities and 287(g)—give local law enforcement the power to act as federal immigration agents, engaging in racial profiling, harassment and ultimately imprisoning countless innocent immigrants. At the same time, politicians like Tim James, Republican candidate for governor of Alabama, stir paranoia and hatred by airing ads that condemn the state for giving the driver’s license exam in languages other than English.
“Free-Trade Agreements have wreaked havoc on Mexico, allowing transnational corporations to flout borders and ignore national laws while simultaneously forcing workers, whose lands and livelihoods are stolen by those same transnationals, to travel to where they might find work at a living wage. The Arizona law will inevitably violate the human rights of millions of people, including Latino citizens and documented immigrants, living and working in the state who are just trying to support their families,” stated David Gespass, President of the National Lawyers Guild.
Instead of spending millions of dollars to fill our jails with hard-working people, states like Arizona should be creating living-wage jobs and supporting those who keep the economy afloat. More importantly, the federal government should be acting quickly to shut down any law that criminalizes groups of people based on their race or nationality.
“Any law that conflates all immigrants with ‘gangs’ is merely a way to scapegoat communities of color for this country’s ongoing problems. But we remain hopeful that last week’s events will ultimately prove galvanizing,” said Marc-Tizoc Gonzalez, Co-Chair of the NLG United People of Color Caucus.
The National Lawyers Guild opposes SB-1070 and is working with other groups to challenge it. Executive Director Heidi Boghosian says, “We will provide legal observers at immigration rallies throughout the nation on May 1, and will continue to oppose any legislation that violates basic Constitutional guarantees of fair and equal treatment under the law.”
The National Lawyers Guild was founded in 1937 and is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has chapters in every state. |
 | "Green is the New Red!" |
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