Reggie Shuford to Join EJS as Director of Law and Policy
After an extensive search process, the Equal Justice Society today announced that we’ve hired Reggie Shuford as our new Director of Law and Policy. He’ll be joining us in mid-May.
EJS has long wanted to engage in the next level of overturning the Intent Doctrine. Finding just the right Director of Law and Policy was critical to achieving this goal. And Reggie is the perfect fit.
Reggie is currently a senior staff counsel in the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation’s Racial Justice Program. An attorney with the ACLU since 1995, he helped pioneer legal challenges to racial profiling practices nationwide and is the ACLU’s chief litigator in challenges to racial profiling, leading national litigation efforts and consulting with ACLU state affiliates and others in cases of “driving while black or brown,” airport profiling, and profiling related to the war on terror.
Shuford’s advocacy to promote affirmative action includes leading recent efforts in Missouri and Oklahoma to defeat anti-affirmative action ballot initiatives, similar to California’s Prop. 209. Those initiatives were also sponsored by Ward Connerly and his supporters.
His docket has also included cases involving educational adequacy and equity, the school to prison pipeline, and the right to counsel for indigents. He also has been involved in advocacy against racism in the use of the death penalty.
Since September 11, 2001, working with colleagues around the country, he has filed a half dozen landmark lawsuits against major airlines alleging racial discrimination, as well as a nationwide challenge to the Transportation Security Administration’s management of the No-Fly List.
He has authored numerous petitions and briefs for cases that were presented to the U.S. Supreme Court dealing with matters of discrimination, the Equal Protection Clause and First and Fourth Amendment rights. He has published articles related to racial profiling, affirmative action, and violence in the African American community.
Reggie also teaches and speaks regularly around the country and internationally, including Moscow, Geneva, and Canada, on issues of racial justice, profiling, discrimination, national security, and other topics, and has appeared on numerous television programs, including CNN’s Burden of Proof and Talk Back Live, ABC’s 20/20, Court TV’s Pros and Cons and Crier Today, NBC’s Nightly News and Dateline, an MTV documentary, True Life: I Am Driving While Black, and was featured in Leading the Way: The History of Black Lawyers and Judges in America Throughout the Twentieth Century, on Court TV.
He has been interviewed on various radio and TV programs, including National Public Radio and MSNBC, and has been quoted in major newspapers such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today and the Guardian. In addition to his litigation responsibilities, Shuford is the ACLU’s Recruitment and Retention Officer for attorneys of color on the national legal staff.
Prior to the ACLU, Reggie worked in private practice in Raleigh, N.C., with the firm Richard Schwartz & Associates, specializing in education law. Just after graduating law school, he clerked with the Hon. Henry E. Frye of the Supreme Court of North Carolina. He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina School of Law, in Chapel Hill, where he was his graduating class president. He is a Wasserstein Public Interest Fellow at Harvard Law School for the 2009-10 academic year and the recent recipient of the University of North Carolina School of Law’s Distinguished Alumnus Award.
We’re elated that Reggie’s joining the EJS team and hope that you have a chance to meet him (or see him again) after he joins us in mid-May.
LDF: ‘King’s Legacy Serve as a Call to Arms on Crisis in Haiti’
Got this today from the NAACP Legal Defense Fund:
Today provides a moment for reflection on the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. – born 81 years ago on this day. It is also a moment of intense anguish for the survivors and those continuing to suffer in the wake of the tragic earthquake in Haiti.
Throughout his life, Dr. King was committed to achieving equality, addressing discrimination and resolving poverty. These were goals that he set out to achieve both domestically and abroad. In a December 11, 1964 Nobel Lecture speech, Dr. King observed that:
Ultimately a great nation is a compassionate nation; no individual or nation can be great if it does not have a concern for the least of these. In the final analysis, the rich must not ignore the poor, because both rich and poor are tied together in a single garment of destiny-for life is interrelated and all men are interdependent. The agony of the poor diminishes the rich, and the salvation of the poor enlarges the rich.
Given the searing experience of Hurricane Katrina, it’s hauntingly disturbing to now witness the intensifying humanitarian crisis unfolding in Haiti. We have a responsibility and a duty to do all that we can to alleviate the suffering unfolding in this weak and vulnerable nation. Before the earthquake, Haiti remained one of the least-developed countries in the Americas with a literacy rate of just 53 percent and nearly 80 percent of the population living in poverty. These numbers are likely to worsen given the total collapse of the country’s infrastructure, including schools, hospitals and government buildings. A long road of rebuilding and recovery lies ahead.
The speed with which we mobilized an aid package to help bailout corporations in the midst of our national economic crisis should shape and inform the relief we now provide to Haiti. Our neighbors in Haiti, just 600 miles from the shore of southern Florida desperately need immediate relief and meaningful intervention. Our own recent experience from Hurricane Katrina should serve as a call to arms and propel us to deploy every resource necessary to bring immediate relief and aid to those suffering in Haiti. Dr. King would have certainly compelled as much.
For more information on how you can provide assistance: The Center for International Disaster Information (CIDI) has links to various lists of organizations that are responding to the earthquake or Global Giving has specific disaster-recovery projects listed that can be supported.
Informational Forums on California Citizens Redistricting Commission
On Jan. 25 in San Francisco and Jan. 26 in Sacramento, learn how you can apply to serve on the commission and ensure the commission reflects the diversity of our state at forums sponsored by MALDEF, EJS, CaCCR, APALC and NAACP California.
In 2008, California voters passed Proposition 11, creating California’s first-ever citizens redistricting commission. The 14-member commission is responsible for drawing the state Senate, Assembly and Board of Equalization districts. The legislative lines drawn by the commission will determine political representation in California for the next decade.
Online applications are due on February 12, 2010. Please join us to discuss the role of the California Citizens Redistricting Commission and how to apply to serve on it. For more information, visit http://WeDrawTheLines.ca.gov or http://RedistrictingCA.org.
Here’s details of the forums in San Francisco and Sacramento:
SAN FRANCISCO
Monday, January 25, 2010
5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Bingham McCutchen LLP
3 Embarcadero Center Promenade, 28th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94111
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=253282782559
Panelists include:
Thomas A. Saenz, President & General Counsel, MALDEF
Janis Hirohama, President, League of Women Voters of California
Nancy Ramirez, Western Regional Counsel, MALDEF
Sharon Reilly, Chief Legal Counsel, California Bureau of State Audits
Eva Paterson, President, Equal Justice Society (Moderator)
SACRAMENTO
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Auditorium
1500 Capitol Mall
Sacramento, CA 95814
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=409474785243
Panelists include:
Thomas A. Saenz, President & General Counsel, MALDEF
Elaine Howle, California State Auditor
Nancy Ramirez, Western Regional Counsel, MALDEF
Trudy Schafer, Senior Program Director, League of Women Voters of CA
Samuel E. Walton, Redistricting Consultant, California NAACP (Moderator)
For more information, please contact Nancy Ramirez at 213-629-2512 x121 or at nramirez@maldef.org.
Space is limited. Please confirm your attendance for these events to Martin Muñoz at 213-629-2512 x143 or at mmunoz@maldef.org by Friday, January 22, 2010.
Court Rules Defunding of ACORN Unconstitutional
EJS has throughout the fall joined many other organizations in supporting ACORN against attacks from the Right and also supported the lawsuit challenging Congress’s unconstitutional defunding of the organization. The court agreed.
On December 11, 2009, the Honorable Nina Gershon, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of New York, granted a preliminary injunction to stop Congress from singling out a single organization for punishment without proper investigation or due process.
On November 12, 2009, ACORN, represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed a case challenging Congress’s unconstitutional defunding of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). The case charges Congress with violating the Bill of Attainder provision in the U.S. Constitution, violating the Fifth Amendment right to due process, and infringing on the First Amendment right to freedom of association by targeting affiliated and allied organizations, as well.
CCR attorneys say members of Congress violated the Constitution by declaring an organization guilty of a crime and punishing it and its members without benefit of a trial.
ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis said: “Today’s ruling is a victory for the Constitutional rights for all Americans and for the citizens who work through ACORN to improve their communities and promote responsible lending and homeownership.”
See original post on ACORN’s blog.
Share Your Unconscious Bias Stories With Us
The Equal Justice Society is working to deepen awareness of unconscious bias through the use of storytelling in television and movies (read more about our related activities). There are a host of interesting stories that can be packaged to Hollywood to both entertain and educate people on the ways that unintentional racism still permeates.
We are looking for real examples of unconscious bias that can serve as the basis for fictional storylines. Here are a few examples:
Imagine: Ten years ago, a black man and a white man who were both in interracial marriages were convicted in the brutal murders of their wives. The white husband was sentenced to life in prison while the black husband was sentenced to death row. A lawsuit ensues.
Something like this happened. McCleskey v. Kemp was decided by the Supreme Court in 1987. Warren McCleskey, a black man, was convicted of armed robbery and murder in the Atlanta area of Georgia. He was given the death penalty. After his conviction, McCleskey appealed the death sentence arguing that the death penalty was administered in a racially discriminatory way, violating the Fourteenth Amendment which, generally, prohibits state sponsored discrimination. McCleskey, with the help of statistical research provided from a law professor, was able to show that the state of Georgia administered the death penalty in a discriminatory manner. Indeed, the professor’s work showed that one found guilty of murdering a white person was 16 times more likely to be sentenced to death than had the victim been black. The Supreme Court held that since there was no discriminatory intent, the Fourteenth Amendment was not violated. On September 28, 1991, Warren McCleskey was executed by state of Georgia’s electric chair.
Imagine: A city has a policy of targeting black barbershops. One day, police raid a black barbershop and the cops shoot an unarmed suspected.
This could be based off a true story. Gordon v. City of Moreno Valley concerns the asserted unconstitutionality of a police raid of black barbershops in the city of Moreno Valley, California in April of 2008. Inspectors and armed police officers wearing bulletproof vests conducted warrantless searches of the barbershops during which officers ran warrant checks of individuals therein. When one owner complained, he was arrested. The plaintiffs, barbershop owners, employees and customers argued that their Fourteenth Amendment and Fourth Amendment rights (which protect individuals from unlawful searches and seizures by the state). The Fourteenth Amendment claim was that the state specifically and unlawfully targeted black barbershops. The district court held that their was discriminatory intent on behalf of the state and that the Fourteenth Amendment was violated. With regards to the Fourth Amendment, the court found that the searches were not routine inspections for which a warrant is not necessary because these were raids and far broader than a inspection done to further regulatory purposes.
These are just two examples. We’re interested in more and hope you can help.
If you have stories from your files, dockets, or recollections and can provide us with details, please contact Brando Simeo Starkey, our EJS Judge Constance Baker Motley Civil Rights Fellow at bstarkey@equaljusticesociety.org.
Deadline Extended to Jan. 11: Motley Fellowship 2010-2011 Applications
The Equal Justice Society has extended the deadline to accept applications for its 2010-2011 Judge Constance Baker Motley Civil Rights Fellowship, named after the first African American woman to serve on the federal bench. Those who submitted applications by the December deadline (per our October announcement) may submit supplements to their original application if they so choose.
Applications must be received in our office, not postmarked, by January 11, 2010.
EJS is a national strategy group heightening consciousness on race in the law and popular discourse. As heirs of the innovative legal and political strategists of Brown v. Board of Education, the organization broadly models its programmatic efforts after the late Honorable Constance Baker Motley and the Brown litigation team. Using a three-prong strategy of law and public policy advocacy, cross-disciplinary convenings and strategic public communications, EJS seeks to restore race equity issues to the national consciousness, build effective progressive alliances, and advance discourse on the positive role of government.
Motley Fellowship applicants should demonstrate experience in civil rights advocacy and a strong commitment to racial justice. The Fellow will work under the supervision of staff attorneys for a 12-month period. During the fellowship period, the Fellow may lead new research, advocacy, coalition building, and public education efforts related to transforming anti-discrimination law and policy. The Fellow will be a full participant in office events and activities, including staff meetings and strategic planning sessions.
The position is based in our San Francisco office and runs from October 1, 2010, to September 30, 2011, with some flexibility in dates.
To be considered for the Judge Constance Baker Motley Civil Rights Fellowship, applicants should send a cover letter, resume, list of four (4) references and a writing sample (preferably on a racial/social justice topic) to info@equaljusticesociety.org with the subject line “Motley Fellowship Application” or mail hard copies to Motley Fellowship Applications, Equal Justice Society, 260 California Street, Suite 700, San Francisco, CA 94111.
Applicants should be recent law school graduates with 0-5 years of work experience after law school. Bar passage is not required. Candidates will be evaluated based upon criteria including: Demonstrated commitment to racial and social justice; Demonstrated interest in civil rights law and policy; Excellent research and oral /written communication skills.
UC Fee Hike Endangers Our Future, EJS Stands With Protesters
Photo by kendrak from Flickr used under Creative Commons license
The Equal Justice Society stands in solidarity with the thousands of student protesters opposing the 32 percent fee hike recently adopted by the University of California Board of Regents. (Follow the protest on Twitter @ucbprotest and #ucstrike)
This tuition hike will bring the total cost of a UC education to more than $10,000 per year, and will disproportionately impact the ability of low income students, undocumented students, and students of color to attend California’s public universities.
In the 13 years since the passage of California Proposition 209, enrollment of students of color at the University of California’s flagship campuses has already dwindled to levels not seen since the ’60s and 70s.
These increases will further decrease the number of students of color able to attend UCs, and will force many current students to work multiple jobs just to stay in school, or worse yet, to leave because they are no longer able to afford tuition and fees.
Moreover, by disproportionately excluding students of color and students from disadvantaged backgrounds, these hikes will prevent our state from developing the diversity of leaders that we need – which is central to the mission of the University of California.
Please stand with us in opposing the privatization of the UC system, and demanding that public education in California remain open to all students who desire to pursue higher education, not just those who can afford it.
The future of our state depends on it.
Links to other articles (and graphics):
