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Guild Notes ▪ Summer/Fall 20092009 NLG National Convention electionsDuring the Saturday plenary at the convention, electionswill be held for the following national officers:● Two National Vice Presidents (NVP). NVPs serve atwo-year term. There are a total of three NVPs. NVPsserve on the NEC.All candidates, except for the National Law StudentVice President, must declare their intention to run by submittinga written statement of no more than 500 words no laterthan 5:00 pm on Friday, October 16, 2009. There will be nonominations accepted from the floor. Candidates are encouragedto submit their statements in electronic form as soonas possible so that they can be posted on the NLG website.Candidates who submit their electronic statement by Thursday,October 8, 2009 will have their statements distributedin requested registration packets. All candidates who submittheir statements after that date must provide 400 copies tothe convention registration desk. Email your statement tocommunications@nlg.org, and please write “candidate statement”in the subject line.At the Student Caucus, elections will be held for the followingnational officer:● One National Law Student Vice President. There aretwo National Law Student Vice Presidents who each servea two-year term. The newly-elected National Law StudentVice President will serve on the Executive Council (EC)in the second year of his or her term. Service on theExecutive Council involves near-daily communication byemail. □NOTE: Last day to submit resolutions and amendments is August 17, 2009Submit proposals to the National Office: communications@nlg.org, cc’d to Dan Gregor: djg92107@yahoo.com on orbefore Monday, August 17, 2009 at midnight for consideration at the convention. Proposals must have the name and contactinformation of the person submitting the resolution or amendment. They should also have the name of any NLG committees,projects, or other entities that endorse the resolution or amendment. Proposed resolutions must have a specific implementationclause and must be no longer than three pages in total using 12 point type, though shorter resolutions are encouraged.Only “emergency resolutions” may be submitted after August 17, 2009. For questions, please contact Dan Gregor of theResolutions Committee: djg92107@yahoo.com or tel: 907-229-9742.National Immigration Project ActivitesWEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 149am – 5pmImmigration Law CLE on challenges to deportation andremoval, including crimes and an ethics session.Registration for the immigration skills seminar isSEPARATE from the rest of the NLG Convention. We willpost details on our website, including cost, as they becomeavailable.THURSDAY, OCTOBER 159am – 5pmMembership Meeting (free)5:30 – 7pmCocktail ReceptionHonoring recipients of 2009 Daniel Levy AwardFRIDAY, OCTOBER 16 – SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18NLG convention workshops sponsored by the National ImmigrationProject include:• Comprehensive Immigration Reform• Effective Strategies for Dealing with Immigration Detainersand Holds• Immigrants and the Military• Deportation Defense: Representing Immigrant Detainees inBond Hearings (co-sponsored by TUPOCC, NLGSF ImmigrationCommittee)SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17NLG Dinner Banquet and Award presentations, includingpresentation of 2009 Carol King Award.More information on activities will be posted underSeminars & Events at www.nationalimmigrationproject.org.▪ 20 ▪
Committee and Chapter UpdatesPortland sees huge turnout at civil liberties forumby Mark KramerOn June 17, an overflow crowd of100 attended a forum—Civil LibertiesUnder Obama: Are We Still At Risk?—at Portland State University. The eventwas organized by the Portland Chapterof NLG, the ACLU of Oregon, Peaceand Justice Works, the American ConstitutionSociety, and others.Participants included Steve Wilker(ACLU cooperating attorney), TomNelson (NLG attorney), Jo Ann Bowman(Executive Director of OregonAction), Steven Wax (Federal PublicDefender), Ashlee Albies (NLG attorney,Portland NLG Co-Chair) andDavid Fidanque (Executive Director- Oregon ACLU). Although organizersinvited current and former U.S. Attorneysto participate on the panel, thoseoffers were refused.Moderator and former U.S. SenateCandidate Steve Novick opened with achallenge to the panelists, questioningwhether President Bush was as much ofa threat to civil liberties as we believed,whether President Obama had decisivelyturned the page on Bush’s abuses,or whether Obama is as bad as Bush.While the speakers reached no unanimousagreement, there was consensusthat Bush had fundamentally underminedcivil liberties and that Obamahas made some substantial progress incurbing the abuses of the Bush regime,including a commitment to close downGuantanamo, reversing reactionaryexecutive orders, ceasing reference tothe “War on Terror,” and committingto better respect the due process rightsof detainees. However, all agreed thatPresident Obama had not gone farenough and was continuing a number oftroubling Bush policies.Wilker reminded us that Americanhistory is littered with numerousdegradations to our civil liberties, theresponsibility for which lies with bothpolitical parties. Bowman spoke aboutthe parallels between racial profiling inPortland (against Blacks and Hispanics)and the preventive detention ofMuslims and non-whites on sometimesbogus and flimsy or unreasonablegrounds. She critiqued Oregon’s newAttorney General for refusing to considera class action suit to challengeracial profiling in Portland. Nelsonspoke about a number of travesties ofjustice in which innocent people werewrongfully arrested, subject to secretrendition, and, in some cases tortured,including one of his clients who stillawaits justice in the courts. For Nelson,the critical inquiry is whether wewill ever find out what was done in ourAll agreed that PresidentObama had not gonefar enough and wascontinuing a number oftroubling Bush policies.names under the Bush regime. Untilwe find that out, he said, we are still atrisk.Wax spoke of his experience representingGuantanamo detainees withthe Oregon Federal Public Defender’sOffice. He noted that Guantanamowas just the tip of the iceberg; therewere thousands of detainees across theworld languishing, many innocent, andheld on exaggerated charges or noneat all, with little or no prospect of adue process trial. Wax challenged theObama administration’s oppositionto releasing evidence explaining thedetention, even to the detainees or theirattorneys, and the claim that courtsare unable to handle alleged terrorists.He noted a number of cases in whichthe courts have adjudicated claimsinvolving terrorism, mass murder,war crimes, etc. Wax was open to usingmilitary commissions for certainindividuals accused of war crimes, butonly under the due process affordedby the Uniform Code of Justice, ratherthan the commissions set up by Congress,which still hid evidence from theaccused.Albies spoke of the state secretsprivilege, used in the Al Haramain case,in which a Muslim charity is suing thegovernment for the NSA’s warrantlesswiretaps in violation of the law. Despitevociferous attempts by the BushAdministration to dismiss the case, thejudiciary has kept it alive while maintainingthe secrecy of the documentdiscovered by the charity, which allegedlydemonstrates the government’sillegal wiretaps. Albies emphasized thatthe Obama Administration maintainsthe same position as its predecessor onthe use of the privilege, thus maintainingthe shield against transparency andaccountability.Fidanque criticized both theBush and Obama Administrations andmembers of Congress for thwartingattempts at transparency and accountabilityregarding government use oftorture and secret rendition. He calledfor a special prosecutor and independentinquiry to look into the policyorigins to explore the justifications forsuch policies so we can avoid abusesin the future.All speakers agreed that civilliberties are still at risk and will remainso until the history of recent abuses isbrought to light and the architects ofthose abuses are held accountable. Theneed for vigilance has not been reducedby Obama’s election. □▪ 21 ▪
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