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Equal
Justice Society e-Newsletter - Issue 2 - Fall 2004
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| SUBSCRIBE Getting this forwarded from a friend? Subscribe to get our newsletter delivered directly to you! IN THIS ISSUE Eva Paterson: Vote as If Your Life Depended On It! Stanford Law Review Study on Affirmative Action in Law Schools Marred by Questionable Data EJS in Hawai'i: Praxis and Pono Notes on the Right: Voter Participation and the Right Civil Rights and Campaign Finance: Summaries of Key Law Review Articles Preserving Access at the University of California Become a Part of the Equal Justice Society
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Vote as If Your Life Depended On It! "Vote early and often" was the slogan attributed to the first Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago who ran elections with an iron hand. Even the dead could vote in Daley's Chicago. As we find ourselves with only a few days standing between us and the 2004 elections, we are once again nervous about access to democracy. This
year, the stakes are so high. Many key issues - including the
composition of the United States Supreme Court -- hang in the
balance. With recent news of the health of the Chief Justice,
those of us who focus on the law, know that the next President
will have an opportunity to shape the legal landscape for the
rest of our lives. The Equal Justice Society is engaged in legal and political battles on both the tactical and strategic levels. We joined with other non-profit organizations in the wonderful Election Protection Project, which has trained hundreds of lawyers and volunteers to make sure that all who want to vote can vote and have their votes counted. On the strategic level, we filed a brief at the United States Supreme Court urging the justices to uphold limitations on campaign spending. Recent reports in the media put the expenditures for this election cycle at more than $4 billion. Imagine what that money could have been used for if there were limitations on how much candidates could spend. Many feel campaign contributions are nothing more than legalized bribery, affording contributors unlimited access and influence to elected officials. Moreover, social science research has proven that people of color, generally have less wealth than White Americans. This lack of wealth limits our ability to have an impact in the electoral arena. The brief filed at the Court addresses this inequity. We remain quite busy at EJS. We are planning a conference on the role of corporations in society at UCLA in early April. We hope you will join us on December 8th at the Palace Hotel for a wonderful jazz concert and party. We are gearing up to counter an attack on the competence of Black attorneys and law students, which will be lobbed in a law review article to be published in the Stanford Law Review. We have made presentations on unconscious bias to the 750 employees of Kaiser Permanente at their annual Diversity Conference in Los Angeles. We made a joint presentation with the American Constitution Society in Philadelphia to the Just the Beginning Foundation conference, the national organization of Black Federal judges. I debated Ward Connerly on affirmative action at a symposium of Knight Fellowship journalists in Maryland. Other activities are highlighted in this newsletter. We are proud of our accomplishments and thank all of our supporters for helping us grow. Vote as if your life depended on it. Eva
Paterson |
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From
Eva Paterson|
The Equal Justice Society is a national organization of scholars, advocates and concerned individuals advancing innovative legal strategies and public policy for enduring social change. We generate critical analysis on issues of race and social justice through research, public education and bringing together individuals from diverse backgrounds and disciplines. Our goal is to reshape jurisprudence to ensure that the rights of all are expanded, rather than diminished, by our courts and policy makers. Equal Justice Society, 220 Sansome St, 14th Flr, San Francisco, CA 94104, Ph (415) 288-8700 |