By Jules Lobel Movements seeking fundamental social, economic and political change have faced a recurring dilemma in the United States and other nations. During activist periods such as the 1930s and ’60s, powerful protests inspire important constitutional and legal reforms and weaken the power of entrenched elites. Yet once the social movement ebbs, the activists’ […]
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Editor’s Preface: Winter 2015
The first two features in this issue look inward at the Guild itself. “Transformational Movements: The National Lawyers Guild and Radical Legal Service” by Jules Lobel seeks to explain why the Guild, virtually alone among the radical-progressive organizations founded to better conditions for struggling and disenfranchised groups during the Great Depression, has “survive[d]… with its […]
Editor’s Preface
In the annals of metropolitan police terror and corruption, the city of Chicago has a legacy second to none. The Chicago Police Department (“CPD”) has a history of criminality and impunity that should make any ambitious crime syndicate envious. Much of this history has become legendary. After the Great Migration of blacks to northern industrial […]
Warning: Detours and Roadblocks Ahead — The Bumpy Road from Selma to Shelby County
By David Gespass The introduction and passage of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) 1 in 1965 was hailed, at the time, as momentous. When President Johnson proposed it, he used the language of an anthem of the Civil Rights Movement, promising “we shall overcome.” 2 Long before that, in calling on Congress to insure African-American […]
Montgomery’s Messy Trifecta
By Douglas A. Berman Montgomery v. Louisiana 1 is a dynamic and multifaceted Supreme Court ruling sure to engender plenty of extended analysis—and plenty of lower- court litigation—in the years to come. In this short commentary, I seek only to spotlight the import and impact of Montgomery arriving at the Court at the intersection of […]
Book Review: Crashing the Party: Legacies and Lessons from the RNC 2000 By Kris Hermes
By Sue Udry We knew exactly what would happen last July at the Republican and Democratic national conventions. City governments would make plans to restrict protests. Police departments would purchase riot gear, less-than lethal weapons, and other special equipment. Insurance policies would quietly be bought. Some assortment of federal, state and local police would infiltrate […]
Editor’s Preface: Winter 2016
By Nathan Goetting After the deregulation of the financial industry during the 1980s and 1990s, banks and other lenders initiated predatory lending practices that, in fairly short order, helped precipitate the near-collapse of the U.S. economy during the “Great Recession” of 2008. Lenders did what they always do when they aren’t compelled to do otherwise—they […]
Border Town Bullies: The Bad Auto Deal and Subprime Lending Problem Among Navajo Nation Car Buyers
By Megan Horning Introduction Lucille Platero, an elderly Navajo woman, traveled to a border town to purchase a car. She was looking for a small car that fit her budget. Instead, the salespeople had her test drive a large truck. The salespeople forced Ms. Platero to leave her license and social security card at the […]
Addressing the ICTY after Prosecutor v. Radovan Karadzic
By Alan W. Clarke & David Gespass Introduction A quarter century after mass atrocity crimes raged throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH),2 a sputtering International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has belatedly convicted Radovan Karadžić—“the Butcher of Bosnia”3 and former President of the breakaway Republika Srpska. Sentenced to 40 years imprisonment,5 his crimes6 include […]
Putting Scalia in Perspective
By David Gespass, Nathan Goetting & Meredith Osborne Donald J. Trump, having somehow become president of the United States, nominated Judge Neil M. Gorsuch of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit to replace Associate Justice Antonin Gregory Scalia on the Supreme Court. The Senate recently confirmed him and he now sits […]