This list identifies resolutions adopted by the House of Delegates at its January 2019 Midyear Meeting.
For prior meetings, see the ABA House of Delegates website.
Policy Implementation
Report No. 10B
Condemns federal government shutdowns which impair the legal system and undermine the Rule of Law.
For more information, please contact:
Denise Cardman
Deputy Director
(202) 662-1761
denise.cardman@americanbar.org
Report No. 10C
Opposes the withholding of funds previously appropriated by Congress for disaster relief and recovery, or their diversion for other purposes, and reaffirms support for the Principles of Rule of Law in Time of Major Disaster
For more information, please contact:
David Eppstein
Legislative Counsel
(202) 662-1766
david.eppstein@americanbar.org
Report No. 100
Adopts the ABA Guidelines for the Appointment and Use of Special Masters in Federal and State Civil Litigation, dated January 2019, and recommends that Bankruptcy Rule 9031 be amended to permit courts responsible for matters under the Bankruptcy Code to use special masters in the same way as they are used in other federal cases.
For more information, please contact:
Denise Cardman
Deputy Director
(202) 662-1761
denise.cardman@americanbar.org
Report No. 101A
Encourages federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal legislatures and court systems, in conjunction with state and local bar associations, to support and assist with the establishment and maintenance of lactation areas in courthouses for members of the public, including lawyers, jurors, litigants, witnesses, and observers.
For more information, please contact:
Denise Cardman
Deputy Director
(202) 662-1761
denise.cardman@americanbar.org
Report No. 101B
Urges the enactment of a rule by the highest courts or legislative bodies of all states, territories, and tribes charged with the regulation of the legal profession, as well as by all federal courts, providing that a motion for continuance based on parental leave of either the lead attorney or another integrally involved attorney in the matter shall be granted under certain conditions.
For more information, please contact:
Denise Cardman
Deputy Director
(202) 662-1761
denise.cardman@americanbar.org
Report No. 104
Encourages a consistent approach to the application of the “fair use” doctrine in copyright law in the context of the digital environment and with respect to repackaging copyrighted material.
For more information, please contact:
Kira Alvarez
Legislative Consultant
(202) 662-1779
kira.alvarez@americanbar.org
Report No. 106A
Opposes laws that would authorize teachers, principals or other nonsecurity school personnel to possess a firearm in, or in the vicinity of, a pre-K through grade 12 public, parochial, or private school, and the use of government or public funds to provide firearms training to teachers, principals, or other non-security school personnel, or to purchase firearms for those individuals.
For more information, please contact:
Holly Cook
Director
(202) 662-1860
holly.cook@americanbar.org
Report No. 106B
Urges federal, state, local, territorial and tribal governments to reduce potential harm that individuals may inflict on themselves or others by enacting statutes, rules, or regulations allowing individuals to temporarily prevent themselves from purchasing firearms.
For more information, please contact:
Holly Cook
Director
(202) 662-1860
holly.cook@americanbar.org
Report No. 107A
Urges the federal judiciary, Congress, and the Department of Homeland Security to enact legislation and adopt policies to protect the privacy interests of those crossing the border by imposing standards for searches and seizures of electronic devices, protection of attorney-client privilege, the work product doctrine, and lawyer-client confidentiality.
For more information, please contact:
Larson Frisby
Associate Director
(202) 662-1098
larson.frisby@americanbar.org
Report No. 107B
Urges legal employers not to require pre-dispute mandatory arbitration of claims of unlawful discrimination, harassment or retaliation based upon race, sex, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, or status as a victim of domestic or sexual violence.
For more information, please contact:
Larson Frisby
Associate Director
(202) 662-1098
Larson.Frisby@americanbar.org
Report No. 108
Urges the American Bar Association to adopt and federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal courts, governmental entities, bar associations, public health agencies, lawyer assistance programs, lawyer regulatory entities, institutions of legal education, and law firms to implement the recommendations and action points in the report, Experienced Lawyers, American Families, and the Opioid Crisis–Report of the Opioid Summit May 2018.
For more information, please contact:
David Eppstein
Legislative Counsel
(202) 662-1766
david.eppstein@americanbar.org
Report No. 109A
Urges the Attorney General to rescind the “Zero Tolerance” and “Operation Streamline policies” that mandate the prosecution of all persons alleged to have improperly entered the United States for the first time, a misdemeanor under 8 U.S.C. 1325; end the practice of expedited mass prosecution of immigrants; and allow for an individualized determination in deciding whether to file criminal charges
For more information, please contact:
Kristi Gaines
Senior Legislative Counsel
(202) 662-1763
Kristi.Gaines@americanbar.org
Report No. 109B
Urges federal, state, local, territorial and tribal legislatures to define criminal arrests, charges and dispositions that are eligible for expungement or removal from public view by sealing, and set out procedures for individuals to apply for the same.
For more information, please contact:
Ken Goldsmith
Senior Legislative Counsel
(202) 662-1789
kenneth.goldsmith@americanbar.org
Report No. 109C
Urges federal, state, local, territorial and tribal legislatures to enact legislation, and correctional and detention facilities to enact policies, to provide all women prisoners in all forms of detention with unrestricted access to free toilet paper and a range of free feminine hygiene products, in sufficient quantities to address their needs.
For more information, please contact:
Ken Goldsmith
Senior Legislative Counsel
(202) 662-1789
kenneth.goldsmith@americanbar.org
Report No. 109D
Urges federal, state, local, territorial and tribal legislatures to amend existing laws or enact new laws to clearly define child torture and make child torture a felony offense regardless of whether a serious physical injury occurs, and to promote training, for all court and medical personnel in these cases, on emerging evidence-based and effective practices to improve government responsiveness to severe maltreatment of children that does not inflict serious bodily injury.
For more information, please contact:
Ken Goldsmith
Senior Legislative Counsel
(202) 662-1789
kenneth.goldsmith@americanbar.org
Report No. 112
Urges Congress and the United States Department of Defense to direct the Armed Forces and its Public Private Venture housing contractors to enact uniform breed-neutral pet policies for families living in military housing.
For more information, please contact:
Holly Cook
Director
(202) 662-1860
holly.cook@americanbar.org
Report No. 113
Opposes laws, regulations, and rules or practices that discriminate against LGBT individuals in the exercise of the fundamental right to parent; urges lawmakers in jurisdictions where such discriminatory laws, regulations, and practices exist to promptly repeal them; and urges bar associations and attorneys to defend victims of anti-LGBT discrimination, and to recognize and support their colleagues taking on this work.
For more information, please contact:
Tom Susman
Strategic Advisor
(202) 662-1765
thomas.susman@americanbar.org
Report No. 114
Urges Congress to enact the federal Equality Act, H.R. 2282 (115th Congress), or similar legislation which explicitly affirms that: (1) discrimination because of sexual orientation or gender identity is sex discrimination prohibited by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and certain other federal statutes; and (2) federal statutory protections for religious freedom do not authorize violation of nondiscrimination laws, and affirms that religiously neutral laws of general applicability prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity do not improperly burden the religious free exercise rights of those operating places of public accommodation.
For more information, please contact:
Tom Susman
Strategic Advisor
(202) 662-1765
thomas.susman@americanbar.org
Report No. 115
Opposes the imposition upon sexual assault victims of a legal burden of resistance before legal protection attaches, and urges federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal jurisdictions to oppose, laws or rules that allow consent to sexual activity to be inferred in whole or in part from inaction or lack of verbal or physical resistance.
For more information, please contact:
David Eppstein
Legislative Counsel
(202) 662-1766
david.eppstein@americanbar.org
Report No. 116
Encourages states and entities working to implement the Global Compact on Refugees and the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration to take additional steps to address root causes of displacement and forced migration, develop policies that discourage the criminal prosecution of migrants and refugees, encourage the accountable use of prosecutorial discretion, and protect migrants and refugees from bias and discrimination regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, sexual identity, national origin, and religion.
For more information, please contact:
Kristi Gaines
Senior Legislative Counsel
(202) 662-1763
Kristi.Gaines@americanbar.org