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Section News

• Justice John Paul Stevens to Keynote 2005 Thurgood Marshall Award
• Section to Elect 2005-06 Leaders at Annual Meeting
• Highlights of Section Events at 2005 ABA Annual Meeting
• Annual Meeting Registration
• Section Proposes Policy on Voting Rights Act
• Spring Council Meeting Wrap-up
  
  

U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens will deliver the keynote address for the 2005 Thurgood Marshall Award Dinner in honor of his longtime friend Judge Abner J. Mikva.

The dinner will be held Saturday, August 6, at the Hyatt Regency Chicago in Regency Ballroom A/B. A reception, sponsored by Holland & Knight, will precede the dinner at 7:00 p.m.  Tickets may be purchased before the ABA Annual Meeting by contacting the Section office or during the meeting at the registration desk during registration hours.

For more information or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities, contact the Section office at 202/662-1030.

Dinner sponsors include:

• Learn about Sponsorship Opportunities
• Order Individual Tickets
• Learn More About the Thurgood Marshall Award
  

The Section will hold its 2005 Annual Meeting on Friday, Aug. 5, during the ABA's Annual Meeting.  The agenda includes the election of 2005-06 Section officers and Council members.

The meeting will begin at 1:00 p.m. in the Columbian Room, Bronze Level, West Tower, of the Hyatt Regency Hotel.

The 2005 Section Nominating Committee (Virginia Sloan, Chair; Zona Hostetler; Kathi Pugh; Drucilla Ramey; and Manuel San Juan) has proposed the following slate of candidates for open positions for 2005-06:

* Chair:
Paul M. Igasaki, Alexandria, VA

Chair-elect:
Robert E. Stein, Washington, D.C.

Vice Chair:
Robyn S. Shapiro, Milwaukee, WI

Secretary:
Neal R. Sonnett, Miami, FL

Section Delegate:
C. Elisia Frazier, Pooler, GA

Finance Officer:
Roy A. Hammer, Boston, Mass.

Three-year Council Positions:
John D. Payton, Washington, D.C.
Steven T. Walther, Reno, NV
William M. Kaneko, Honolulu, HI

One-year Unexpired Terms;
Kay Hodge, Boston, MA
Patrick McGlone, Washington, D.C.

Under the Section's bylaws, any Section member may make additional nominations for these positions by submitting a written statement of nomination signed by at least one other member in addition to the member being nominated.  Nominations must be received by Section Chair Stephen F. Hanlon or Section Secretary Robyn S. Shapiro at least six hours before the election.  Nominations will not be accepted from the floor at the time of the election.

The Section Council is scheduled to meet from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 5, and from 9:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 6, in Regency Ballroom D, Gold Level, West Tower, of the Hyatt Regency.   Council sessions are open to all members.  Please contact the Section office (tel.: 202/662-1030) for further information.

* Traditionally the Chair-elect automatically ascends to Chair.  However, in Fall 2004, Paul M. Igasaki was elected as interim Chair-elect and therefore will be considered by the full membership for the position of Chair in August.

In addition to the Thurgood Marshall Award Dinner, the Section is co-sponsoring the Alliance for Justice Reception on Fri., Aug. 5, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, sponsored by the National Lesbian and Gay Law Association.  This Year's reception will honor Dean Harold Hongju Koh of Yale Law School.

The Section is also sponsoring a number of CLE programs, including a general session CLE program entitled, "The Global War on Terror: Conflict or Compatibility with the U.S. Bill of Rights and International Rule of Law?"  The panel will examine responses by the U.S. and other countries to terrorism and/or perceived terrorist threats, their impact upon human rights protected under the U.S. Bill of Rights, the Geneva Conventions, the Convention Against Torture, and other international human rights and humanitarian legal instruments, and the implications for the advancement of the rule of law worldwide.

Panelists will include Barry Sullivan (moderator), M. Cherif Bassiouni, President of the International Human Rights Institute, DePaul University College of Law, Dean Harold Hongju Koh, Yale Law School, Elisa Massimino, Director, Washington Office, Human Rights First, Geoffrey Stone, University of Chicago Law School, and Ruth Wedgwood, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

Other Section-sponsored CLE programs will discuss lawyers' involvement in the 2004 elections, employment discrimination and transgendered persons, social security, immigration reform, and the execution of the mentally impaired.

• See Full Section Schedule of Events

This year, the ABA is offering two Annual Meeting two registration levels. For $295, members may register for admittance to all governance and non-CLE programs.  Individual program tickets are available for $75 each.

For $570, members may purchase an all-access badge, which grants access to governance meetings, non-CLE programs, and all CLE programs, including those in the Presidential CLE Centre and at satellite hotels.

Discounted program tickets will be available to government lawyers and judges for $35.  Law Student attendees will be admitted to all CLE programs at no additional charge.

Individuals may register online or print a faxable registration form by visiting the Annual Meeting web site at http://www.abanet.org/annual/2005/.

Online registration for the 2005 ABA Annual Meeting will remain open until July 7.

All Individual Rights Section events will be held at the ABA Headquarters Hotel, Hyatt Regency Chicago, 151 E. Wacker Dr., Chicago, Ill., 60601, tel.: 312/565-1234.

At the 2005 Annual Meeting the ABA House of Delegates will consider a Section-sponsored recommendation supporting the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended through 1992.

The recommendation was developed by the Section's Committee on Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity and is co-sponsored by the ABA Standing Committee on Election Law.

• Text of Report with Recommendation
• Committee on Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity Home Page

The Section held this year's Spring Council Meeting at The Howard University School of Law in Washington, D.C., on April 1-2, 2005.

The meeting included the first of a new Section-sponsored "Speaker Series", which featured a round table discussion with Section leaders (Sarah Weddington, Roe v. Wade, privacy; John D. Payton, Grutter v. Bollinger, affirmative action; Marcia D. Greenberger, Jackson v. Birmingham Board of Education, Title IX; and Neal R. Sonnett, Hamdi v. Rumsfeld and Rumsfeld v. Padilla, enemy combatants) highlighting their involvement in landmark civil rights and civil liberties cases. Over 60 law students attended the program.