BOSTON, Feb. 13, 2009 — The Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities presented the Drinan Award to former Section Chair and past ABA President Michael S. Greco, currently a partner in the Boston office of K&L Gates LLP. “Mike Greco has devoted his professional life to helping ensure that the legal system gives everyone a fair shake," said Section Chair Neal Sonnett. "He has worked tirelessly to protect the rights and freedoms of people in America and around the world; safeguard the independence of the judiciary and other institutions of American democracy; find ways to address the legal needs of lower-income people; advance the rights of women, people of color and people with disabilities, and improve the justice system and the legal profession.” Among his achievements as ABA president, Greco made individual rights a centerpiece of his term. Under his watch the ABA commissioned new task forces and centers focused on key areas of Section concern, including access to justice, rule of law, the attorney-client privilege, domestic surveillance, separation of powers, and racial and ethnic diversity.

The award was presented during an evening reception as part of the ABA Midyear Meeting at the Sheraton Boston Hotel.

Read Michael Greco's acceptance speech

CHICAGO, Jan. 29, 2009 — The United States’ “commitment to due process is essential to the preservation of our core principles of liberty at home and to our leadership role in promoting the rule of law globally, even in exigent circumstances,” said the American Bar Association in an amicus brief filed with the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of a citizen of Qatar, legally resident in the United States, who has been held without charges in U.S. military detention since 2003. The ABA argues in the case of Al-Marri v. Spagone that “constitutionally guaranteed criminal due process rights that are available to all citizens and persons lawfully present in the United States may not be abrogated during military detention unless such persons are given the opportunity for prompt meaningful judicial review.”

View all Section-sponsored briefs of amicus curiae since 2000

I’m honored to work with outstanding Officers, all of whom are respected leaders of the ABA. Space does not allow mention of all their many accomplishments, but to name just a few:

Chair-Elect Dick Podell is a former Chair of the Family Law Section, current Finance Officer of the Senior Lawyers Division, the Wisconsin State Delegate to the House of Delegates, a member of the ABA Nominating Committee, and a former member of the Board of Governors;

Vice-Chair Elisia Frazier, who represented IRR with distinction in the House of Delegates and on the ABA Nominating Committee, has served on the ABA Board of Governors and as Secretary of the ABA Museum of Law, and was just elected as a Delegate-at-Large;

Secretary Kay Hodge, the Immediate Past President of the National Conference of Bar Presidents and the Massachusetts State Delegate, served as Chair of the Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession and on the Board of Governors, and is on the Council of the Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section;

Finance Officer Jim Silkenat, a former Chair of the International Law Section and the Section Officers Conference, is the New York State Delegate, Chair of the Steering Committee of the Nominating Committee, and Chair of the Commission On The World Justice Project;

Section Delegate Mark Agrast, a distinguished former Chair of this Section and member of the Board of Governors, now chairs the Commission on Immigration, chaired the Commission on the Renaissance of Idealism in the Profession, and is a member of the World Justice Commission;

Delegate Richard Macias ably represents us in the House of Delegates, served as Chair of the House Minority Caucus, and is a former Chair of the Individual Rights Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association.

The IRR Council is comprised of equally outstanding lawyers who have donated their time and talents to further the mission of the Section. If you attend a Council meeting—and I hope you will—you will be as impressed as I have been with the expertise and dedication that they bring to the work of our Section.

We are particularly proud of the work of more than 20 Committees through which IRR has educated the public, developed important ABA policies on critical issues, produced cutting edge CLE programs, and provided an opportunity for lawyers who share a commitment to human rights, civil liberties, and social justice. You can learn more about the work of our Committees and join up to three right on our website. We have an extraordinary professional staff, led by Section Director Tanya Terrell, who will be happy to assist you in becoming more active in the important work of our Section.

I hope you will also enjoy and benefit from our award winning magazine, Human Rights, as well as our quarterly IRR News Report and our IRR E-Newsletter. This year, you will be receiving periodic communications from me to keep you even better informed about important issues and the work of our Section to advance the Rule of Law.

No matter what your area of law practice, or to what other ABA Sections or organizations you belong, I hope you will join with leaders from every corner of the ABA who know that the Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities is the heart, the soul, and the conscience of the ABA.

Neal R. Sonnett
Section Chair