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Contact: Paige Cram, Communications Coordinator, communications@nlg.org, 609-668-0645
Pittsburgh—National Lawyers Guild members witnessed first-hand yesterday the unwarranted display and use of force by police in residential neighborhoods, often far from any protest activity.
Police deployed chemical irritants, including CS gas, and long-range acoustic devices (LRAD) in residential neighborhoods on narrow streets where families and small children were exposed. Scores of riot police formed barricades at many intersections throughout neighborhoods miles away from the downtown area and the David Lawrence Convention Center. Outside the Courtyard Marriott in Shadyside, police deployed smoke bombs in the absence of protest activity, forcing bystanders and hotel residents to flee the area.
Later, while some protests were ending, riot-clad officers surrounded an area at the University of Pittsburgh, creating an ominous spectacle that some described as akin to Kent State. Guild legal observers witnessed police chasing and arresting many uninvolved students.
Among other questionable tactics, officers from dozens of law enforcement agencies lacked easily-identifiable badges, impeding citizens’ ability to register complaints.
Heidi Boghosian, executive director of the National Lawyers Guild, said: “Accountability and chain of command is virtually impossible to establish given the lack of visible individual identifying badges on officers. The small, paper armband badges that law enforcement are wearing are difficult to read, and many wore black chest coverings with absolutely no identifying information. We’ve seen many law enforcement personnel, including Pittsburgh Police Department officers, deliberately covering up the arm IDs by rolling their shirt sleeves up over them.”
The National Lawyers Guild is a progressive bar association, founded in 1937, with chapters in every state. Its national mass defense program includes education about laws and practices that affect individuals engaging in dissent, criminal defense of protesters and civil litigation to curb unconstitutional police practices, and its legal observing program. Resources detailing police tactics are available on the Guild’s website, www.nlg.org, including Punishing Protest and The Assault on Free Speech, Public Assembly, and Dissent.
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National Lawyers Guild to Send Legal Observers to Monitor Law Enforcement at G-20 Summit Protests in Pittsburgh
For Immediate Release—September 14, 2009Contact: Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director, 917-239-4999
Paige Cram, Communications Coordinator, 212-679-5100, ext. 15
City’s Unique Layout, and Presence of 2,000 National Guard Soldiers and 4,000 Officers Pose Potential Risk of Injury to Protesters
New York--The National Lawyers Guild is sending trained legal observers to the G-20 Summit protests in Pittsburgh from September 22-26, 2009, where thousands are expected to converge to protest financial mismanagement that led to the global meltdown and resulting job cuts and poverty. Established over 40 years ago, the Guild’s legal observing program provides lawyers and law students to monitor incidents of police misconduct and infringements on the right to engage in lawful protest. Guild observers at previous National Special Security Events have provided a presence to assure protesters that unlawful police practices will not go unchallenged, and to gather information for possible litigation.
Pittsburgh’s particular layout, including 446 bridges, promises to complicate enforcement of a security perimeter and may exacerbate a trend that the Guild has documented of law enforcement overreaction to individuals trying to exercise their First Amendment right to assembly.
Executive Director Heidi Boghosian says, “The dual threat in Pittsburgh is its intricate city layout and the extraordinary level of militarized law enforcement accompanying a so-called ‘National Special Security Event.’ Access to the downtown area near the David Lawrence Convention Center is already congested—adding 2,000 National Guard soldiers to the 4,000-officer police force increases the chance that protesters will suffer injury from law enforcement and military. Add the use of less-lethal munitions, horses, motorcycles, and it’s a recipe for disaster. We must avoid a repeat of the April 2009 G-20 in London, and the 2001 G-8 in Genoa, each of which resulted in the death of a protester.”
The National Lawyers Guild is a progressive bar association, founded in 1937, with chapters in every state. Its national mass defense program includes education about laws and practices that affect individuals engaging in dissent, criminal defense of protesters and civil litigation to curb unconstitutional police practices, and its legal observing program. The Guild operates a national hotline, 888-NLG-ECOL (888-654-3465) for individuals who have been targeted by the FBI for their associational activities, including animal welfare and environmental rights activists. Educational resources for activists are available on the Guild’s website, www.nlg.org, including Punishing Protest, Operation Backfire: A Survival Guild for Environmental and Animal Rights Activists, and The Assault on Free Speech, Public Assembly and Dissent.
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For Immediate Release - August 17, 2009
Contact: Paige Cram, NLG Communications Coordinator, 212-679-5100, ext. 15, communications@nlg.org
Long-time member, and former president of the National Lawyers Guild, Doris "Dobby" Brin Walker, died on August 13 at the age of 90. She was widely regarded as a brilliant lawyer and defender of human rights. Perhaps best known for her defense of Angela Davis in the 1970s, Walker had a long history of legal victories for labor, and political activists. She was the first woman president of the National Lawyers Guild and remained very active with the organization.
Walker graduated from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law in 1942, the only woman in her class. She immediately began practicing labor law, but soon quit the practice of law to work in canneries and eventually at the Cutter Laboratories of Berkeley where she quickly became a union leader. Fired from Cutter because of her organizing activities and membership in the Communist Party, Walker and her union fought for reinstatement all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Returning to the practice of law, Walker represented Smith Act defendants in California during the height of McCarthyism. Eventually her work and that of others led to a Supreme Court case, Yates v. U.S., which overturned the convictions of the Smith Act defendants in 1957.
Walker continued to defend political clients targeted by the government, including Korean war opponents John and Sylvia Powell who were charged with sedition, and whose case ended in a mistrial; and Angela Davis, whose criminal case in the 1970s ended in an acquittal.
Walker was honored by the San Francisco Bay Area chapter in 1981 at a testimonial dinner, and regularly attended the California State Bar Conference of Delegates on behalf of the National Lawyers Guild, successfully advocating for and passing a number of progressive resolutions. She was also active in the NLG Labor & Employment Committee, and was Vice-President of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers.
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For Immediate Release - July 8, 2009
Contact: Paige Cram, NLG Communications Coordinator, 212-679-5100, ext. 15, communications@nlg.org
The National Lawyers Guild calls for concrete action in response to
the military coup perpetrated against the democratically-elected
government of President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras which included the
kidnapping and expulsion of President Zelaya and his Foreign Minister,
Patricia Rodas, the detention the Cuban, Venezuelan and Nicaraguan
ambassadors, blackout of international media, the suspension of
constitutional rights of assembly and expression, and the detentions,
assassinations and attacks on members of civil society and trade
unions who support the restoration of democracy in Honduras.
We appreciate the strong statements coming from President Obama and
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemning the coup and recognizing
President Zelaya as the duly elected and legitimate president of
Honduras and we now call on the Obama administration to halt all
foreign aid and military assistance until President Zelaya is
unconditionally reinstated and democracy is restored in Honduras.
Given the extensive U.S. training and U.S. funding of the very
individuals and military operatives responsible for the coup, we call
on the Obama Administration to cease all military activities and
funding for Honduras. We urge the administration and to comply with
Section 7008 of the annual foreign operations appropriations act and
immediately suspend aid to the government of Honduras until President
Zelaya's unconditional return to office has been secured, all
prisoners taken during the coup have been released, and anyone
installed in office since the coup has been removed from office. We
oppose any negotiations with the coup perpetrators that would result
in placing any conditions upon the reinstatement of President Zelaya.
We also call on the US State Department to comply now and in the
future with United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2626 (XXV)
(1970) by respecting sovereign rights in its dispersal of foreign aid
and to cease funding the so-called "pro-democracy" civil groups that
have supported this coup. We also urge the State Department to join
the many other countries that have withdrawn their ambassadors from
Honduras pending restoration of President Zelaya's presidency.
We applaud the solidarity with which the world's governments and the
multilateral institutions of the United Nations and the Organization
of American States have responded to defend democracy in Honduras, and
the courage of those leaders who are offering to accompany President
Zelaya on his return to Honduras. We welcome the decision of the OAS
and its Secretary General to invoke the provisions of the
Inter-American Democratic Charter relative to an unconstitutional
interruption and alteration of the democratic order, including Article
19 of the Inter-American Democractic Charter, which states that such
an interruption constitutes an "insurmountable obstacle" to the
government's participation in OAS activities; and Article 21, which
calls for a vote of suspension of the member state until democracy is
restored. We support the decision of the OAS, pursuant to Article 20,
to undertake the necessary diplomatic initiatives to further the
restoration of democracy in Honduras.
We also express our solidarity with and support for the Honduran
people and the social organizations and unions who are peacefully
seeking a non-binding referendum on the question of constitutional
reform to further democracy in their country. We recognize that the
prohibition on constitutional reform written into the 1982
constitution itself negates the power of the people of Honduras to
determine their own system of governance. We call on all authorities
to guarantee and respect the physical integrity and freedom of speech
and association of those who are working for democratic constitutional
reform in Honduras.
The National Lawyers Guild was founded in 1937 as an alternative to
the American Bar Association. The NLG 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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For Immediate Release - May 27, 2009
Contact: Paige Cram, NLG Communications Coordinator, 212-679-5100, ext. 15, communications@nlg.org
New York--In the wake of President Obama's nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the United States Supreme Court, the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) encourages a reasoned analysis of Sotomayor's candidacy. Critics are focusing on accusations of judicial activism and identity politics rather than engaging in sound examination of her legal qualifications. Comments of this nature serve only to distract from meaningful discussion surrounding the judicial confirmation process.
“When Judge Sotomayor was nominated, conservative pundits immediately leveled allegations of judicial activism against her. That charge is not only hypocritical, but is also disingenuous. Bush v. Gore, supported by these same commentators in 2000, is the most vivid example of judicial activism ever displayed by the highest court,” said Marjorie Cohn, President of the National Lawyers Guild.
Critics have increasingly questioned the role that Sotomayor’s race and gender played in her nomination. Changing the discourse from one of judicial qualifications to one of identity politics detracts from a proper evaluation of her suitability for the job.
The Guild encourages an analysis that focuses on Sotomayor’s credentials and ability to interpret the Constitution of the United States. These are the criteria by which any judicial nominee should be evaluated.
The National Lawyers Guild was founded in 1937 as an alternative to the American Bar Association, which did not admit people of color. The NLG 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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