Special report on the ABA’s legislative priorities for 2007

Each February, at the ABA’s Midyear Meeting, the association’s Board of Governors votes on the legislative priorities for the upcoming year. These priorities are based on a number of factors, including importance to the practice of law, public perception of the profession and importance to the administration of justice.

The views of the leaders of the organized bar and the recommendations of the Governmental Affairs Office and the ABA Standing Committee on Governmental Affairs, chaired by Neal R. Sonnett, are also considered by the board when establishing the association’s priorities.

Among the priorities are access to legal education and legal services. The ABA supports the establishment of loan repayment assistance and loan forgiveness for public interest employment, as well as full funding for the Thurgood Marshall Legal Educational Opportunity program, which helps disadvantaged students obtain a legal education. Further, the ABA is a proponent of reinstatement of tax-preferred status of Section 120 group legal services benefits.

Sufficient resources to ensure legal services for poor and low-income individuals, including assistance for low-income military personnel, are supported by the association. The ABA supports a well-financed Legal Services Corporation and urges federal, state and local governments to provide adequate funding for indigent defense services.

The ABA urges that individuals detained as “enemy combatants” be afforded certain procedural rights, such as access to counsel and the opportunity for meaningful judicial review of their status, including the right to petition for habeas corpus. The association also urges that military tribunals authorized to conduct trials of suspected terrorists be used only in limited circumstances, that the procedures for trials and appeals be governed generally by the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and that all defendants have the opportunity to receive effective representation by civilian defense counsel. Finally, the ABA urges that future electronic surveillance inside the United States for foreign intelligence purposes comply with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

The ABA supports expanded federal resources to ensure that capital defendants receive adequate representation at trial and on appeal, and opposes enactment of mandatory minimum sentences. The association supports federal legislation to expand the availability of programs to support the successful re-entry of ex-offenders into the community and to ameliorate the punitive effects of such collateral sanctions as the loss of jobs, housing and federal financial aid for higher education.

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The ABA opposes preemption of state medical liability laws and caps on pain and suffering awards, and opposes creation of a system that would require injured patients to utilize “health courts” that deny them the right to a trial by jury or full compensation for injuries caused by medical negligence. The ABA supports repeal of the McCarran-Ferguson exemption, which exempts the insurance industry from certain federal antitrust laws, and replacing the exemption with legislation providing for certain safe harbors.

The ABA supports legal immigration based on family reunification and employment skills. The organization supports due process safeguards in immigration and asylum adjudications, and judicial review of such decisions. The ABA opposes laws that require organizations and individuals providing education, health care, or other social services to verify citizenship or immigration status.

Erosion of the judicial process and infringement of separation of powers between Congress and the courts is of great concern to the ABA. The ABA supports adequate funding for the federal judiciary, including an immediate and substantial increase in federal judicial compensation, and the prompt filling of judicial vacancies.

Primary regulation and oversight of the legal profession should continue to be vested in the court of highest appellate authority of the state in which the lawyer is licensed. The ABA opposes federal laws or regulations that would interfere with state rules protecting the confidential attorney-client relationship, including the application of financial institution “privacy protection” provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act to lawyers; bankruptcy law provisions that impose new liability and regulations on bankruptcy debtor lawyers; and federal government policies that pressure companies and other organizations to waive attorney-client privilege and work-product protections.

The ABA is a proponent of ratification of certain international treaties, including the Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Rome Statute for an International Criminal Court, the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Adequate funding for domestic and international agencies that promote the rule of law should be ensured.

The ABA supports simplification of the tax laws to the maximum extent possible, consistent with basic equity, efficiency, and the need for revenue, so that such laws can be easily understood and complied with by the taxpayers and fairly and consistently administered and enforced by the Treasury Department.

The association urges Congress and the states to provide greater resources for juvenile crime prevention, to end reliance on prosecution of juvenile status offenses, to support programs that assist youth who are aging out of the foster system, and to enact new legislation to regulate private residential treatment facilities.

The ABA Washington Letter provides the latest details on congressional and executive action on legislative issues of import to the association and the profession. News about the latest activities of the Governmental Affairs Office is regularly posted here.

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