Moderators: William Kresse & Juan Thomas, Members of the Advisory Commission to the ABA Democracy Task Force
Speakers:
David Becker, Founder and Executive Director, Center for Election Innovation & Research.
Ross D. Secler, Partner, Odelson, Murphey, Frazier & McGrath, Ltd.; Chair, Election Law Committee, Chicago Bar Association.
John Fogarty, Law Office of John Fogarty, Jr.; General Counsel, Illinois Republican Party; Vice President, Governor, and former General Counsel, Republican National Lawyers Association.
Ed Mullen, Mullen Law Firm, Chicago, IL
Adam Lasker, Lasker Law LLC; General Counsel, Chicago Board of Election Commissioners.
Tanya Clay House, Executive Vice President Campaigns and Advocacy, Hip Hop Caucus; Consultant for the ABA Perfecting Democracy & Voting Rights Project; Former National Policy Director, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights.
Angie Pitha, Project Lead, Election Official Legal Defense Network.
Jason Kaune, Chair, ABA Standing Committee on Election Law; Poll Worker, Esq.
SLG Zoning, Land Use & Cannabis: How to approach and navigate land use and zoning issues in emerging cannabis markets (CLE 1)
Panelists discussed land use and zoning challenges both operators and governments face with the expansion of legal cannabis use and sales across the nation.
By the end of the session, participants were able to understand the landscape of cannabis regulations and how to navigate existing or new land use restrictions when trying to operate cannabis facilities. This panel included leading experts on cannabis and land use discussing a topic that is becoming increasingly important to many state, tribal, and local government practitioners as well as real estate, business, and government relations attorneys.
Moderator: Anamaria Hazard Meanes, Senior Managing Associate, Dentons US LLP, Atlanta, GA
Speakers:
Brie Coyle Jones, Partner and Chief Diversity Officer, Miller Nash LLP, Seattle, WA
Hannah M. King, Partner, Dentons Bingham Greenebaum LLP, Portland, ME
Sarah Pennington Richards, Associate, Dentons Bingham Greenebaum LLP, Louisville, KY
SLG Disenfranchising the First Americans - Native American Voting Rights (CLE 2)
Native Americans continue to lag behind other ethnic groups in rates of voter registration, turnout, and representation at all levels of government. 100 years after the Indian Citizenship Act, this panel reflected on the history and state of the Native American franchise. This panel also touched on recent elections where Native Americans were critical voting blocs, ongoing challenges that Native American voters face, and how the law can advance the Native Vote.
View the on-demand video.
Moderator: Blair Tarman-Toner, Associate Attorney General Chickasaw Nation
Speakers:
Patty Ferguson-Bohnee, Clinical Director of the Arizona State University Indian Legal Clinic
Torey Dolan, William H. Hastie Fellow at the University of Wisconsin Law School
Nicole Hansen, Elections Counsel, Committee on House Administration, U.S. House of Representatives
Co-sponsor: Standing Committee on Election Law, Standing Committee on the Law Library of Congress
Friday, August 2, 2024
Safeguarding Public Officials: Protecting Judges, Civil Servants, and the Rule of Law
Defusing the violence against judges, as courts are under attack.
Las Vegas law clerk Michael Lasso jumped into action last January when a judge was attacked in the courtroom. Lasso fought off the judge’s assailant – but others on the bench have not been as fortunate.
Lasso told his story at “Safeguarding Public Officials: Protecting Judges, Civil Servants and the Rule of Law,” on Aug. 2 at the American Bar Association Annual Meeting in Chicago, where he joined other colleagues of the court to report on an alarming rise in threats and acts of violence against them – and the new efforts sprouting up to address the problem.
Credible threats of harm against the judiciary have risen sharply, from 175 in 2019 to 500 in 2023, said former Maryland district judge Paul W. Grimm, now retired, who helped to launch a new institute for judicial legal reform, the Bolch Judicial Institute at Duke Law School, where he is the director.
Last year fellow Maryland jurist Andrew Wilkerson, a county circuit court judge, was killed in the driveway of his home following his ruling in a child custody case, said the state’s Supreme Court Justice Matthew J. Fader, illustrating how the violence has spread beyond the courtroom and providing an example of how family law judges are at highest risk.
The tragedy sparked Maryland legislators to act on the vulnerabilities in the state’s justice system.
The Maryland General Assembly recently passed the Judge Andrew Wilkerson Judicial Security Act, which took effect in June. The bill establishes a pathway for judicial officers in Maryland to get their personal information removed from the internet, explained Fader.
Concurrently, change is underway on the national level.
In June, the U.S. Senate passed the bipartisan Countering Threats and Attacks on Our Judges Act, legislation that stressed the need to help protect the safety of judges and others who work in state courthouses nationwide. The bill, now under consideration in the U.S. House of Representatives, will create a new resource center to provide threat monitoring, training and the opportunity to conduct research related to best practices for court security.
The ABA House of Delegates session that will close the 2024 Annual Meeting will consider Resolution 516, which urges Congress to pass the bill.
The violence extends beyond judges, impacting others in the public sector.
Election workers have received physical, sexual, racist and anti-Semitic threats that have even included threats against their children, said David Becker, executive director and founder of the Center for Election Innovation & Research in Washington, D.C., who noted that some states have passed laws to criminalize such behaviors.
Becker created the Elected Officials Legal Defense Network to connect election officials with pro bono lawyers and professionals who can provide advice and assistance.
Becker said it “saddens” him that the nonprofit needs to offer this type of service but predicts even more help will be needed beyond the current election cycle.
Legal professionals interested in volunteering with the network may contact the organization.
“Safeguarding Public Officials: Protecting Judges, Civil Servants and the Rule of Law” was sponsored by the Judicial Division and the Government and Public Sector Lawyers Division.
View on-demand video.
Source: ABA News
Co-sponsors: Judicial Division; Judicial Division - National Conference of Specialized Court Judges; Judicial Division - Judicial Security Committee; Government and Public Sector Lawyers Division; Standing Committee on Election Law; Young Lawyers Division; Criminal Justice Section; National Judicial College; Administrative Law; Civil Rights and Social Justice
Moderator: David Sumner, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Independent Regulatory Review Commission, Harrisburg, PA
Speakers:
David Becker, Executive Director and Founder, Center for Election Innovation & Research, Washington, DC
Hon. Matthew J. Fader, Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Maryland
Hon. Paul W. Grimm (ret.), David F. Levi Professor of the Practice of Law, Director of the Bolch Judicial Institute at Duke Law School and served as a district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland
Michael Lasso, Clerk to the judge Mary Kay Holthus, Clark County District Court, Las Vegas
Ashley Weathers, Assistant Attorney General, North Carolina Department of Justice, SLG Elizabeth Clark Young Lawyers Fellow, Raleigh, NC
SLG Sheetz and the Future of Takings Jurisprudence SLG (CLE 3)
Panelists discussed the recently decided Sheetz v. County of El Dorado, California, how this decision affected the Nolan/Dolan test, and what questions SCOTUS left unanswered.
By the end of the session, participants were able to understand the background of the Sheetz decision and what the SCOTUS’s decision means from one of the attorneys who represented Mr. Sheetz. This panel included experts on takings and exactions jurisprudence discussing a topic that can affect the future of state and local government regulations important to many state and local government practitioners as well as real estate, business, and government relations attorneys.
Moderator: Makenna X. Johnson, Associate, Davis Graham & Stubbs, Denver, CO
Speakers:
Brian T. Hodges, Senior Attorney, Pacific Legal Foundation, Poulsbo, WA
Co-sponsor: ABA Real Property Trusts and Estates
SLG Jefferson B. Fordham Awards Luncheon
In 1998, the ABA Section of State and Local Government Law was inspired to establish the Jefferson B. Fordham Awards to honor the accomplishments of practitioners and institutions active in the varied areas of practice associated with State and Local Government Law.
The 2024 Jefferson Fordham honorees:
Daniel J. Curtin, Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award
Erica Levine Powers, Past Section Chair, Albany, NY
Zaldwaynaka L. Scott, President, Chicago State University, Chicago, IL
Anita P. Miller Advocacy Award
Elizabeth M. Yang, Chair, SLG Election Committee,
President, WStrong LLC, Reston, VA
Law Office Accomplishment Award
Illinois Office of Attorney General, Criminal Justice Division
SLG It Takes a Village: How Local Governments [or Chicago], Non-Profits, and Pro Bono Attorneys Are Responding to the New Wave of Immigrants. (CLE 4)
The current influx of new immigrants, many asylum seekers, has presented significant challenges for state and local governments. Chicago has been no exception. This panel discussed how Chicago is addressing the challenges it has had to meet the needs of these new arrivals, the legal and humanitarian issues these new immigrants are facing, and the critical role non-profits and pro bono legal counsel have played in the process.
Moderator: Ron Kramer, Seyfarth Shaw LLP, Chicago, Illinois
Speakers:
Katherine Greenslade, Legal Director, The Resurrection Project
Michelle Jacobson | Partner, Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP. Chicago, ILEllen Miller, Pro Bono Manager, National Immigrant Justice Center,
Beatriz Ponce de León, Deputy Mayor of Immigrant, Migrant and Refugee Rights, Office of the Mayor
Co-sponsor: Commission on Immigration
Saturday, August 3, 2024
SLG Ensuring Trust in Our Institutions (CLE 5)
Why Americans distrust government – and what to do about it.
A breakdown in public education is a primary reason that a record number of Americans distrust government, said panelists on Aug. 3 during the American Bar Association Annual Meeting session, “Ensuring Trust in Our Institutions.”
Underinvestment in civics is causing a disconnect between Americans’ understanding of their role as voters and the impact of their ballot, said Skye Perryman, president of Democracy Forward, an advocacy group that advances democracy and social progress through litigation, policy and public education and regulatory engagement.
“Because of the erosion in our civic education… we’re now seeing that people can’t make sense of [their government,]” Perryman said. “When you can’t make sense of it, you start having a deep-seated distrust in the types of institutions that can help make it better—like voting or demanding more of your elected representatives.”
Distrust has also been stoked by the institutions themselves. The courts’ “intentionally” opaque procedures related to compliance with their orders and other directives discourage an understanding of their purpose and contributes to a lack of confidence in the justice system, Hannaford said.
Greater participation in civic duties boosts trust in government. People who have served on juries have more trust and higher regard for their local courts, Hannaford said. “But we have very few jury trials, which puts a lot of pressure today on how we can use this lovely mechanism that could improve our democratic institutions.” Adding to the challenge, she said, is the increase in non-response and failure-to-appear rates among potential jurors.
Panelist Kyle George said that lawyers are essential to a turnaround by strengthening democratic processes.
A former first assistant attorney general in Nevada and former general counsel to the governor, George explained that “lawyers play a critical role in keeping our system together…and it’s important that we don’t lose faith; that we don’t lose energy; that we don’t lose sight of the role we have in this.”
Among other areas of needed focus, Bill Kresse, a Chicago Board of Election commissioner, and certified public accountant, suggested that training CPAs as certified election auditors, crafting a model election code, and educating students better about the court system can all help to reinforce our democratic processes.
“Voter confidence is at a historic low. Democracy requires elections, and if people lose faith in elections, you’re kind of losing your democracy.”
Stephen Cobb, ABA Section of State and Local Government Democracy Fellow, moderated the program.
“Ensuring Trust in Our Institutions” was sponsored by the Section of State and Local Government Law.
Source: ABA News
Moderator: Stephen Cobb, Member | Cozen O’Connor; SLG Democracy Fellow, Washington DC
Speakers:
Bill Kresse, Commissioner, Chicago Board of Election Commissioners
Paula Hannaford, National Center for State Courts
Skye Perryman, President of Democracy Forward
Kyle George, former First Assistant AG (Nevada), former General Counsel to Governor of Nevada
Sunday, August 4, 2024
3:00 to 5:00 p.m.
Margaret Brent Awards Ceremony