By Bro. Brad Broussard Beeville, TX Under the Thirteenth Amendment, “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction” (emphasis added). The word ‘except’ here indicates that slavery and involuntary servitude […]
Issues: Guild Notes Vol. 40, No. 1 (Spring 2015)
Marissa Alexander: A Miscarriage of Justice
[UPDATE: Marissa Alexander was freed February 2017!] By Kerry McLean, Anti-Sexism Committee Chair A miscarriage of justice has occurred in Florida. You might be wondering which instance I am referring to. From hanging chads to the murder of Trayvon Martin, Florida has developed a reputation in the US and abroad as a place where injustice […]
Terrorism in Chapel Hill Exposes Double Standard
By Azadeh Shahshahani, NLG President On February 10, three Muslim students, Razan Abu-Salha (19), Yusor Abu-Salha (21), and Deah Barakat (23), were tragically murdered, shot at point-blank range in their home by their neighbor, Craig Stephen Hicks, a 46-year-old white man. Describing himself as an “anti-theist” on social media, Hicks had previously harassed Yusor and […]
Meet the New NLG Executive Director, Pooja Gehi!
Dear Guild Members, I am honored and humbled to join you as Executive Director of the National Lawyers Guild. In fact, watching NLG members offer legal support at protests is what inspired me to go to law school. As a student, I was the President of my NLG chapter at American University’s Washington College of […]
“We Want $15 an Hour and Full-Time Work”
By Edmundo Saballos, DC NLG “It’s not just about Walmart workers, but about all of us… We’re in the struggle for all workers in the US,” Cynthia Murray, a worker organizer with OUR Walmart told 40 participants at the January 19th panel discussion, “What’s next in the fight to organize Walmart and in the struggle […]
Kenneth Reams: Opening the Art Event on Capital Punishment from Death Row
By Ann Schneider, NLG-NYC As a young Guild attorney, I got my chance to work with the NAACP LDF in my first job at a union legal service in 1997. A few co-workers and I volunteered our evenings working on a post-conviction review petition in the case of Kenneth Reams. Kenny was a borderline mentally […]
TUPOCC Indicts the System in Chicago
By Iveliz Orellano, NLG Chicago TUPOCC On January 15, TUPOCC Chicago heeded the call from youth of color for solidarity actions that reclaim the radical legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. That day, the radical legal community of color and its allies indicted the system for systematically controlling, devaluing, and breaking up communities of […]
NLG-St. Louis Files Lawsuit to Oust Ferguson Prosecutor
[UPDATE: A judge tossed this lawsuit in July 2015.] By Maggie Ellinger-Locke, NLG St. Louis After the grand jury failed to indict Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson over his killing of Michael Brown, many emotions came to the fore within our community, including anger and sadness. Perhaps most importantly, we felt the continuity of a […]
Massachusetts Legal Community Holds Black Lives Matter Day of Action
By Benjamin Evans, Northeast Regional Co-RVP On February 25, lawyers and law students—many of them Guild members—spoke out in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement in a day of action coordinated by the NLG Massachusetts Chapter. The statewide day of action held outside courthouses across Massachusetts was a show of solidarity in response to […]
Letter re: Mall of America Black Lives Matter Protesters
[UPDATE: November 10, 2015] http://www.startribune.com/judge-dismisses-charges-against-black-lives-matter-organizers-of-moa-protest/344894812/ On February 4, 2015, the NLG sent the letter below to Bloomington, MN City Attorney Sandra H Johnson, calling for the “immediate dismissal of all criminal charges and other retributive actions” against the 10 activists arrested on December 20, 2014 at a peaceful #BlackLivesMatter event at the Mall of America. […]