By American Bar Association
The Task Force for American Democracy held its Democracy Summit recently at the American Bar Association’s Annual Meeting in Chicago and released an analysis that outlined the current threats to the country’s election system while offering ideas for how individual lawyers and bar associations can get involved and protect the rule of law.
The summit was hosted by the co-chairs of the task force, former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Secretary Jeh Charles Johnson and former federal judge J. Michael Luttig.
ABA President Mary Smith, who formed the task force in August 2023, called it the centerpiece of the Annual Meeting. She explained that 16 months ago when she was contemplating what to focus her ABA presidency on, she kept coming back to the “threats to democracy” and how lawyers were uniquely qualified to uphold the rule of law and safeguard election integrity.
Task force findings
• The task force released an analysis on the current state of the democracy, which outlines their activities and spells out specific actions lawyers and citizens can take to support democracy and the rule of law.
The analysis concluded that the country and democracy face a wide variety of serious threats and that “too many of us have taken our democracy, our rule of law, our civic norms and our freedoms for granted and have not done the hard work required to keep a free and fair democratic republic.”
They specifically point out the rise in authoritarianism and the too large segment of the public that seems willing to choose that form of government over democracy.
The analysis lists several causes, including “misinformation and disinformation, the intentional polarization of the American public by both domestic and foreign actors, a disregard for the rule of law and the norms that sustain such legal guardrails and a lack of basic civic knowledge.”
The demonization of the “others” in our communities has exacerbated the problems and has led to threats and acts of violence against elected officials, election officials and members of the judicial branch.
The bipartisan task force summarized its work over the past 12 months with the goal of activating America’s lawyers to get engaged.
It joined with nongovernmental organizations and private citizens to help inform the American people of the threats to our institutions and propose solutions. “Listening tours” were held in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, led by those states’ secretaries of state and local election workers in an effort to rebuild trust in elections.
The “Next Steps” committees in those states have recruited local lawyers to give talks on the rule of law and democracy, to serve as poll workers, to dispel disinformation and to reintroduce civility into the public square.
The task force helped arrange for over 120 law school deans to sign a letter affirming their commitment to train the next generation of lawyers on their duty to support our constitutional democracy and further the public’s understanding of the rule of law and our justice system. A big part of the law school push will be to teach how to disagree respectfully and engage across political and ideological divides.
In addition, the task force will host free virtual CLE on the need for lawyers to defend democracy and the rule of law, how to help improve our civic dialogue by disagreeing better and on understanding our elections and election laws. The group plans to collaborate with the Knight Foundation to host education sessions on election law for national and local journalists.
The analysis also included lists of what individual lawyers and bar associations can do. For individual lawyers, the suggestions include:
• Voting and encouraging others to vote
• Becoming a poll worker
• Giving talks in your community or writing for your local newspaper about the rule of law, democracy and elections
• Contacting the local election board members and the board’s legal counsel and offer to help
• Serving as a pro bono lawyer protecting election officials through the Election Official Legal Defense Network
• Actively dispelling election misinformation and disinformation in your community as it arises
• Condemning violence or the threat of violence, especially as it relates to our elections and our judicial system
• Sharing the list with colleagues and members of the bar and encouraging them to get involved
For bar associations, the suggestions include:
• Enforcing lawyers’ ethical obligations when it comes to the filing of questionable election-related lawsuits
• Hosting and supporting seminars and public speaking engagements by members to promote the rule of law, confidence in our elections and the importance of carrying on our disagreements in a civil and respectful manner
• Organizing joint programming with local chambers of commerce, schools, community groups and others related to the rule of law, civics education and democracy
• Ensuring pro-bono legal assistance is available to election officials under attack or connecting those officials to the Election Officials Legal Defense Network
The task force will issue a set of specific recommendations in its final report to be issued in late spring or early summer of 2025.
(https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/2024/06/)
The Task Force for American Democracy held its Democracy Summit recently at the American Bar Association’s Annual Meeting in Chicago and released an analysis that outlined the current threats to the country’s election system while offering ideas for how individual lawyers and bar associations can get involved and protect the rule of law.
The summit was hosted by the co-chairs of the task force, former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Secretary Jeh Charles Johnson and former federal judge J. Michael Luttig.
ABA President Mary Smith, who formed the task force in August 2023, called it the centerpiece of the Annual Meeting. She explained that 16 months ago when she was contemplating what to focus her ABA presidency on, she kept coming back to the “threats to democracy” and how lawyers were uniquely qualified to uphold the rule of law and safeguard election integrity.
Task force findings
• The task force released an analysis on the current state of the democracy, which outlines their activities and spells out specific actions lawyers and citizens can take to support democracy and the rule of law.
The analysis concluded that the country and democracy face a wide variety of serious threats and that “too many of us have taken our democracy, our rule of law, our civic norms and our freedoms for granted and have not done the hard work required to keep a free and fair democratic republic.”
They specifically point out the rise in authoritarianism and the too large segment of the public that seems willing to choose that form of government over democracy.
The analysis lists several causes, including “misinformation and disinformation, the intentional polarization of the American public by both domestic and foreign actors, a disregard for the rule of law and the norms that sustain such legal guardrails and a lack of basic civic knowledge.”
The demonization of the “others” in our communities has exacerbated the problems and has led to threats and acts of violence against elected officials, election officials and members of the judicial branch.
The bipartisan task force summarized its work over the past 12 months with the goal of activating America’s lawyers to get engaged.
It joined with nongovernmental organizations and private citizens to help inform the American people of the threats to our institutions and propose solutions. “Listening tours” were held in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, led by those states’ secretaries of state and local election workers in an effort to rebuild trust in elections.
The “Next Steps” committees in those states have recruited local lawyers to give talks on the rule of law and democracy, to serve as poll workers, to dispel disinformation and to reintroduce civility into the public square.
The task force helped arrange for over 120 law school deans to sign a letter affirming their commitment to train the next generation of lawyers on their duty to support our constitutional democracy and further the public’s understanding of the rule of law and our justice system. A big part of the law school push will be to teach how to disagree respectfully and engage across political and ideological divides.
In addition, the task force will host free virtual CLE on the need for lawyers to defend democracy and the rule of law, how to help improve our civic dialogue by disagreeing better and on understanding our elections and election laws. The group plans to collaborate with the Knight Foundation to host education sessions on election law for national and local journalists.
The analysis also included lists of what individual lawyers and bar associations can do. For individual lawyers, the suggestions include:
• Voting and encouraging others to vote
• Becoming a poll worker
• Giving talks in your community or writing for your local newspaper about the rule of law, democracy and elections
• Contacting the local election board members and the board’s legal counsel and offer to help
• Serving as a pro bono lawyer protecting election officials through the Election Official Legal Defense Network
• Actively dispelling election misinformation and disinformation in your community as it arises
• Condemning violence or the threat of violence, especially as it relates to our elections and our judicial system
• Sharing the list with colleagues and members of the bar and encouraging them to get involved
For bar associations, the suggestions include:
• Enforcing lawyers’ ethical obligations when it comes to the filing of questionable election-related lawsuits
• Hosting and supporting seminars and public speaking engagements by members to promote the rule of law, confidence in our elections and the importance of carrying on our disagreements in a civil and respectful manner
• Organizing joint programming with local chambers of commerce, schools, community groups and others related to the rule of law, civics education and democracy
• Ensuring pro-bono legal assistance is available to election officials under attack or connecting those officials to the Election Officials Legal Defense Network
The task force will issue a set of specific recommendations in its final report to be issued in late spring or early summer of 2025.
(https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/2024/06/)
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