Activist-lawyer Benjamin Crump among panelists at ABA?Annual Meeting
Judges, prosecutors, legislators, law enforcement and the public all have a role to play in police reform. That was the consensus of the panelists for the CLE Showcase Program “The Future of Policing: Ending Senseless Violence and Igniting Transformative Reform,” presented August 5 at the American Bar Association 2021 Hybrid Annual Meeting.
Noted activist-lawyer Benjamin Crump, who represented the families of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery as well as others in high-profile police cases, was among the panelists who raised the clarion call to push for accountability of law enforcement officers. “This is what America is all about — having equality and justice,” Crump said. “We can’t just have it be rhetoric. We have to make it reality.”
Lonita Baker, co-counsel for the family of Breonna Taylor, called for limits on qualified immunity for police, a ban on no-knock warrants and holding police officers accountable, both professionally and criminally.
“Court systems and prosecutors have allowed police officers to skirt around the Fourth Amendment,” which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures and sets requirements for warrants, Baker said. “We can’t have situations where officers are comfortable lying in front of judges, under oath and not getting prosecutorial approval for a warrant.”
Lynda R. Williams, president of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, agreed. “Qualified immunity is not a shield to do wrong,” she said. “There has to be accountability and consequences” for wrongful actions taken by police officers.
Along with holding police responsible, Madeleine Landrieu, dean of Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, pressed for law schools to lean into the work of police reform and partner with law enforcement agencies to bring about change. Landrieu is chair of the advisory committee of the ABA Legal Education Police Practices Consortium, a collaboration between the ABA and dozens of U.S. law schools to examine and address legal issues in policing and public safety, including conduct, oversight and the evolving nature of police work.
“Law enforcement has to be trained — or retrained and rewired — to understand that intervening before harm occurs is courageous,” Landrieu said. Loyola’s law school has partnered with the New Orleans Police Department to create a forum for sharing best practices for policing through research and scholarship. Georgetown Law has done the same with the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C., she said.
Baker also called for training young lawyers to stand and speak up not only when they see wrongs but also when they hear about them. “When we hear these things, we have to be just as outraged,” she said.
“Our collective voices are our strength,” said Williams, who is also professor of practice of criminal justice at Middle Tennessee State University. She called for a national standard for police departments to follow, including establishment of a national database so that a bad officer “cannot skirt from one department to another.” She added that it is also important for officers to get to know people in the communities where they work in order to build mutual trust.
A combination of policing and legislation reform are needed to “hopefully prevent the unnecessary, unjustified and unconstitutional killings of our most precious assets like Breonna and others,” Crump said.
Also appearing on the panel were Tamika Palmer, mother of Breonna Taylor, and moderator Wayne McKenzie, general counsel of the New York City Department of Probation.
“The Future of Policing: Ending Senseless Violence and Igniting Transformative Reform” was sponsored by the Litigation Section and Standing Committee on Gun Violence, and co-sponsored by the Center for Diversity and Inclusion, Criminal Justice Section and Civil Rights and Social Justice Section.
Voting experts discuss actions underway now to quash future effort to overturn U.S. elections
A steady flow of disinformation and a push by many states for legislative changes that threaten the election process are fueling mistrust and confusion among voters, according to voting experts who raised myriad voting issues at the American Bar Association 2021 Hybrid Annual Meeting.
The panel examined the question, “What should be done to ensure that the public has confidence in the electoral process and accepts the outcome of the vote?” during a program presented on August 9.
Polls show that a majority of Americans want to know that there is free access to the polls, said former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, co-founder and co-chair of the nonpartisan organization States United Democracy Center. Most Americans also agree with methods such as drive-by voting, early voter registration and drop-mailbox voting but are confused by what they hear from top officials.
“There’s confidence in the electoral process but there’s a troubling undercurrent of doubt about the disinformation,” Whitman said.
Election lawyer Benjamin Ginsberg agreed that combating disinformation is the right tactic, but he added that people of opposing viewpoints and parties need to get out of their silos to talk to each other. “You can’t sustain a democracy with each side just talking to themselves,” he said.
Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections for the nonpartisan watchdog group Common Cause, pointed to the importance of the work of the organization’s 1.5 million members and election officials.
The grassroots organization pushed many states to have backup paper ballots and a robust and legitimate audit system in place to ensure fair elections. Albert said their passion and activism help to move state governments in the right direction.
State election officials are in the middle of an ongoing battle for the future of democracy, said Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.
“The bottom line is the 2020 election results were accurate, it was a secure election and the most accessible election with more people voting than ever before in our country’s history,” she said.
Benson warned that people need to prepare now for another attempt to overturn the national election in 2024. To help ensure democratic elections, she called for people to commit to amplifying the truth, push back on legislative changes that seek to change the rules of the game, and commit to serve on the front lines as election administrators and workers to protect the truth and the nation’s democracy.
Whitman advocated for civic education for the general public so that they know and understand their responsibilities as citizens. “We need to make our voices heard,” she said.
Benson also said sufficient funding for elections is critical — not just to properly run them but to help educate voters on the tools they need to cast their ballot. She also called for more federal protection for voting rights.
Despite all the disinformation and pushback on voting rights, Benson said she still has hope — and that’s because “good people stepped up and did the right thing.”
The panel discussion, presented by the House of Delegates Committee on Issues of Concern to the Legal Profession, was moderated by Verna Williams, dean of the University of Cincinnati College of Law.
––––––––––––––––––––
Subscribe to the Legal News!
http://legalnews.com/subscriptions
Full access to public notices, articles, columns, archives, statistics, calendar and more
Day Pass Only $4.95!
One-County $80/year
Three-County & Full Pass also available
––––––––––––––––––––
Subscribe to the Legal News!
http://legalnews.com/Home/Subscription
Full access to public notices, articles, columns, archives, statistics, calendar and more
Day Pass Only $4.95!
One-County $80/year
Three-County & Full Pass also available
