• Annual Luncheon:  Professor Geoffrey R. Stone discusses "Civil Liberties in Time of War."  Commitment to Justice Award Presented to Lawrence C. Marshall.

• Council's Letter to the Editor on affirmative action published in the Chicago Tribune.

• Pro Bono Opportunities with the Chicago Council of Lawyers and the Chicago Appleseed Fund For Justice

• Please remember to send us your opinions about state and federal judges before whom you appear, using the Judicial Reporting Form found on the homepage of our website, www.chicagocouncil.org.

Annual Luncheon:  Professor Geoffrey R. Stone discusses "Civil Liberties in Time of War."  Commitment to Justice Award Presented to Lawrence C. Marshall.

Nearly 350 lawyers attended the Annual Luncheon of the Chicago Council of Lawyers and the Chicago Appleseed Fund For Justice on July 23, 2003, held at the Chicago Athletic Association in Chicago.  Council President, David R. Melton, introduced to the audience the Council's President-elect, Locke E. Bowman, who is the Legal Director of the MacArthur Justice Center.  The following is an excerpt from Bowman's remarks that focused on the future of the Council:

"The "future" of the Chicago Council of Lawyers – which, your program notes, is one of my assigned topics for today – has, as I see it, much to do with our organization’s past.

Some of you may remember the inaugural meeting of the Council 34 years ago – in 1969 – in the basement of the People’s Gas Building just down the street from where we are now, at 122 South Michigan. I was not there. In 1969, I was, as the saying then went, still living at home.

Certainly, though, you needn’t have been present at the Council’s founding to appreciate the exigencies of those times. Alex Polikoff, who spoke to some 300 Chicago lawyers gathered at that first meeting, told the group that the time was right for Chicago to have a new bar association – one that would commit itself unswervingly to reform of the legal system.

That sentiment was very apt in 1969.

• In 1969, United States troops were mired in a campaign – of dubious moral and legal validity – to subdue a foreign enemy;
• In that year, across the nation opponents of our foreign policy demanded from the federal administration transparent and honest justifications for our nation’s actions;

It must have seemed very clear in 1969 that the Chicago legal community had a responsibility to stand up for the First Amendment right to dissent; to articulate the need for transparency and openness in institutions of national and local government; to demand, in many particulars, that police and other officials protect the civil liberties of all Chicago citizens and that institutions of government deliver fairly the services and entitlements owed to the least fortunate in our community. It must have seemed very clear that putting on the bench independent, qualified judges – persons who could be counted on to apply the law fairly and intelligently – was absolutely essential if this City’s legal community was to be able to tackle these problems.

The Chicago Council of Lawyers literally came into being because our founding members cared passionately about these issues.

Who can deny that today, in 2003, we too – in the words of the famous Chinese curse – are living in interesting times. At this moment:

• In the name of a nebulous, non-geographic "War on Terrorism," the federal government has detained hundreds of persons without explanation or justification and denies them the right to meet and consult with counsel.
• The patriotism and loyalty of those who dare to question our counter-terrorism policies is doubted in the public statements of powerful officials.

No less today is Chicago in need of a bar association re-dedicated to the cause of reform.

Ours is a lean and mean organization. There is no bureaucracy here. Check out the Council offices at 220 South State, if you doubt that.

Every one of our members has the ability – whether you have experienced it yet or not – to move the Council of Lawyers to action. Tell the members of the Governing Board what you care about. Offer to draft an amicus brief in an important case. Help to draft the Council’s position on a key issue. Bring us your passion for justice. The times in which we are living demand no less..."

The Council and Chicago Appleseed gave the Commitment to Justice Award to Northwestern University School of Law Professor Lawrence C. Marshall for his death penalty work in Illinois.  In accepting the award, Marshall praised and thanked other activists and then said, "If we can move the kinds of mountains that have been moved on this issue, then imagine what we can do with other issues."

The audience then turned to the issue of Civil Liberties in Wartime, a keynote addess given by University of Chicago Law Professor Geoffrey R. Stone.  This address can be found in its entirety at our website, www.chicagocouncil.org.  

Council's Letter to the Editor on affirmative action published in the Chicago Tribune.

On July 16, 2003, the Chicago Tribune published the following letter from the Council's Civil Liberties Committee:

"Dennis Byrne correctly states that the 14^th Amendment  "arose from the carnage of the Civil War and its clear purpose was to end racial oppression and discrimination"  (O’Connor takes it upon herself to rewrite the 14^th Amendment, June 30, 2003). However, Byrne is flat out wrong when he says that Justice O’Connor "soiled the memory of those who struggled mightily for years to give life to the amendment’s principles." Byrne misses the fact that many people who struggle mightily for racial justice are alive and among us and must continue today to fight for that ideal.

Byrne says that the 14^th Amendment represented "one of America’s finest hours." But thanks to Supreme Court opinions such as Plessy v. Fergusen, which legitimized the so-called "separate but equal" treatment of citizens, the Amendment held out little promise of justice to minority citizens for nearly a century. Byrne mentions the case Loving v. Virginia, which banned prohibitions on interracial marriages, but the Court got around to deciding that issue in 1967, 99 years after the 14^th Amendment’s ratification.

Justice O’Connor’s opinion merely acknowledges what every fair-minded American knows about race in this country: we have made tremendous progress, but racial minorities still face prejudice and discrimination. In education, many minority students simply do not have the same opportunities as their white counterparts. By allowing universities to correct for this fundamental unfairness, Justice O’Connor not only does justice to the spirit and purpose of the 14^th Amendment, she does justice to our all those who have, and who still do, "struggle mightily" for racial equality in the United States."

Sean Collins-Stapleton
Civil Liberties Committee of the Chicago Council of Lawyers

Pro Bono Opportunities with the Council and the Chicago Appleseed Fund For Justice

The Chicago Council of Lawyers was born in 1969 out of a hope that lawyers could challenge the inadequacies of our legal system by joining together in a new association.

The Council has now been working in the public interest for nearly 35 years. In 1997, the Council’s Fund For Justice became known as the Chicago Appleseed Fund For Justice, the Chicago affiliate of the Appleseed Foundation. As such, Chicago Appleseed is a social impact research and advocacy organization focusing on social justice and government effectiveness issues. The Council and Chicago Appleseed have always worked together and now the relationship is memorialized in an alliance agreement. The two organizations, while independent, work together. Chicago Appleseed provides most of the research services and the Council leads the advocacy efforts. The Council utilizes the research results from Chicago Appleseed in forming its advocacy positions and strategies, while Chicago Appleseed utilizes the pro bono assistance of Council members.

The following are just some of the ways you can become involved in our systemic reform efforts. We invite those interested in court reform, social justice, and government effectiveness to provide pro bono time aimed at systemic reform. Our pro bono projects are designed around the need for research, writing, and policy analysis. Each project offers the opportunity for five-hour assignments under the supervision of our staff.

Law Watchdog Monitoring: Child Support

• Research into the policies and procedures of child support programs outside of Illinois.
• Researching and writing of policy statements and editorial positions on issues relating to child support reforms.
• Interviewing two to three individuals from among a sample of parents, lawyers, experts, and other individuals providing services within the child support system. This assignment is part of the process of producing an annual report on child support reform in Illinois.

Law Watchdog Monitoring: Illinois Department of Human Rights
The Council and Chicago Appleseed issued a report on the shortcomings of the Illinois Department of Human Rights, and sponsored a public forum on this subject. Chicago Appleseed is interested in assembling a group to monitor changes in this agency.

• Research into the policies and procedures being used to administratively adjudicate claims of discrimination outside of Illinois.
• Interviewing two to three individuals from among a select sample of lawyers, complainants, government employees, and experts.

Judicial Election Reform

• To assist a coalition of legal, community, and civic groups and individuals designing a demonstration project aimed at improving the judicial election system in Cook County by:
• Creating educational materials for members of the public.
• Participate in a speakers’ bureau designed to talk to the public about the importance of an informed electorate in judicial elections and to talk to the public about ways to become informed.
• Assisting in the development and implementation of programs designed to develop and disseminate thorough and objective information about judges and judicial candidates.

State and Federal Judicial Evaluations (Chicago Council of Lawyers)

• Serve as an investigator for evaluation of state judicial candidates and of judges seeking retention.
• Serve as an investigator for evaluation of federal district judges and federal magistrate judges in the Northern District of Illinois.
• Serve on the State Judicial Evaluation Committee which has the responsibility of discussing the evaluations of judges and judicial candidates, assigning a rating, and prepare written explanations of the findings.

• Researching criminal defense and prosecution systems nationwide.
• Interviewing two to three individuals from among a sample of the critical players in the criminal justice system.
• Assisting in the drafting of a report detailing the research results and proposing reform possibilities.

Community Publications

• Assisting in the development of the next editions of the Tenant/Landlord Handbook and the Legal Services Directory of free and low cost legal services.
• Assisting in the development and implementation of an annual survey of community-based organizations to determine subjects for future community publications.

Developing Policy Statements and Recommendations
Every Council member and Chicago Appleseed contributor is invited and encouraged to prepare an editorial statement pertaining to an issue about which they are knowledgeable and concerned. These statements, up to 750 words, will be reviewed by the appropriate governing Boards of one or both of the organizations. If approved for publication, the statement will be published on our website and issued to the wider community through the print and electronic media.

To volunteer for any of these projects or to get more information, please contact me at:

U.S. Mail: 220 S. State Street, Suite 800, Chicago, IL 60604 Attn: Malcolm Rich
Facsimile: 312-427-0181 or Email: malcolmrich@chicagoappleseed.org 
Call Malcolm Rich at 312-427-0713