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Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project

Working to Obtain a Nationwide Moratorium on Executions

Steering Committee Members

Stephen F. Hanlon, Chair, has handled public interest and civil rights cases throughout his career. Since 1990, he has managed Holland & Knight's Community Services Team providing legal representation to those who could not otherwise afford it. Mr. Hanlon's major civil rights work has included death penalty litigation, voting rights, challenges to indigent defense systems, AIDS discrimination and The Rosewood Claims Bill ensuring 2.1 million dollars in compensation to the survivors of the Rosewood Massacre. Mr. Hanlon's efforts have won significant praise. In 2001, he received the Equal Justice Award from the Southern Center for Human Rights. He also received the Steven M. Goldstein Criminal Justice Award from the Florida Association of Criminal Lawyers in 2000. Mr. Hanlon's work on behalf of civil liberties and civil rights also won him the Nelson Poynter Award from the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida in 1996. He received a B.S. with honors from St. Louis University and his J.D. from the University of Missouri School of Law.

Sandra Babcock is a clinical associate professor of law and the clinical director of the Center for International Human Rights at the Northwestern School of Law. She has taught courses on international law and the death penalty at the University of Amsterdam and served as an adjunct law professor at South Texas College of Law. Before joining the law school faculty, she served as director of the Mexican Capital Legal Assistance Program, a program funded by the Mexican Foreign Ministry to assist Mexican nationals facing capital punishment in the United States. For her work, she was awarded the Aguila Azteca, the highest honor bestowed by the government of Mexico upon citizens of foreign countries, in 2003.

Deborah Fleischaker - bio forthcoming

Lawrence Fox is a partner and former managing partner of Drinker Biddle & Reath in Philadelphia specializing in commercial litigation and the counseling of lawyers. Larry teaches professional responsibility at the University of Pennsylvania and the Harvard Law Schools. His involvement with death penalty work began when under the auspices of the ABA Death Penalty Representation Project he undertook the representation of William (Bo) Cochran for whom Drinker achieved a new trial at which Mr. Cochran was acquitted. Since 1997, Mr. Fox has represented Georgia death row inmate Tommy Lee Waldrip in habeas proceedings both in state and now federal court. Larry has been called upon to provide expert witness reports in numerous death penalty cases on the ethical transgressions of prosecutors and defense counsel and has written five amicus briefs in the United States Supreme Court in capital cases.

Lindsay Glauner - bio forthcoming

Hon. Morris L. Overstreet is a Professor of Law and the Director of Law School Clinics at the Thurgood Marshall School of Law, Texas Southern University. In November 1990, Judge Overstreet was elected to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. His election marked the first time an African-American was elected to Texas statewide office. In 1992, Overstreet was re-elected to a full six-year term on the court and, over the course of eight years, authored over 500 opinions. Judge Overstreet’s career highlights include five years as a Texas prosecutor, six years in private practice, and four years as a trial judge. In addition, he has served as general counsel to the Texas State Baptist Convention and as national legal counsel for Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. Judge Overstreet received degrees from Angelo State University and Texas Southern University School of Law.

Hon. Cruz Reynoso is a professor at the University of California at Davis School of Law, Vice Chair of the U. S. Commission on Civil Rights, and Special Counsel at Kaye, Scholer, Fierman, Hays & Handler. He is recognized for his leadership in civil rights, immigration and refugee policy, government reform, the administration of justice, legal services for the indigent, and education. Judge Reynoso’s professional highlights include serving as an Associate Justice on both the Third District Court of Appeal and the California Supreme Court, directing the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, and teaching law at the University of New Mexico and the UCLA School of Law. Judge Reynoso received his undergraduate degree from Pomona College, Claremont, and his law degree from the University of California at Berkeley.

Virginia E. Sloan founded the Constitution Project in 1997 and is now its President. She also serves on its Board of Directors and Executive Committee, and directs its Death Penalty, Constitutional Amendments, and Right to Counsel Initiatives. Ms. Sloan previously served as Executive Director of the Task Force on Gender, Race and Ethnic Bias of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. For 14 years, she was a counsel to the House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary, including several years as counsel to the Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights. Ms. Sloan serves as a special counsel to the Council of the American Bar Association's Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities and on the ABA Committee on Court Funding. Ms. Sloan also serves on the Board of Directors of the Southern Center for Human Rights and the Innocence Project of the National Capital Region and the Honorary Board of the Washington Council of Lawyers.

Jordan M. Steiker - bio forthcoming

Thomas P. Sullivan, a senior partner at Jenner & Block, LLC, has practiced with the firm for the past 48 years, except from 1976 to 1981 when he served as United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. He served as co-chair of the Illinois Governor's Commission on Capital Punishment between 2000 and 2002. Mr. Sullivan specializes in civil and criminal trial and appellate litigation. He is a frequent author and lecturer on trial and appellate practice. He has served as an instructor at Loyola Law School in Chicago, and for the National Institute For Trial Advocacy. He has been a member of the Board of Governors of the Illinois State Bar Association, and of committees of local, state and national bar associations, and has received awards from various lawyers and civil organizations. He is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He is admitted in Illinois, California and New Mexico. Mr. Sullivan received his degrees from Loras College and Loyola Law School in Chicago.

Ronald J. Tabak is Special Counsel to the New York firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and is experienced in death penalty and civil rights litigation. He successfully argued Francis v. Franklin, a death penalty case, in the U.S. Supreme Court and played a leading role in securing Johnny Gates’ removal from death row after 26 years. Mr. Tabak also coordinates the pro bono practice at Skadden, Arps. Mr. Tabak has chaired the Committee on Civil Rights of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and is co-chair of the Death Penalty Committee of the American Bar Association’s Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities. He has been a leader in the ABA’s efforts to recruit and train lawyers for indigent death row inmates. He is the Chair of the ABA Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities’ Task Force on Mental Disability and the Death Penalty, whose proposals have been adopted as policies by the American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association. Mr.Tabak is also the recipient of many awards, most recently including the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Champions for Social Justice and Equality Award from the Black Law Students Association of Rutgers School of Law (2003), the New York Criminal Bar Association Award (2001), and the New York State Bar Association President's Pro Bono Service Award (2005 and 1985).

Denise I. Young, currently serves as Habeas Assistance and Training Counsel, providing consultation, training and resource materials for Federal Public Defender Offices and appointed counsel representing death sentenced inmates in federal habeas corpus proceedings, and consulting with the Defender Services Committee of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. Denise is a graduate of the University of Arizona College of Law, with highest distinction, a former partner at Lewis & Roca in Phoenix, Arizona (1983-1992), former director of the Arizona Capital Representation Project, a death penalty resource center (1989-1996), former lead attorney of the capital habeas unit at the Federal Public Defender's Office for the District of Arizona (1996-1999), and adjunct professor at Arizona State University College of Law (1989-1996, 1999).