The American Bar Association House of Delegates will conclude the 2024 ABA Annual Meeting Aug. 5-6, with more than three dozen policy matters on the agenda, including resolutions challenging government actions that would require the display of the Ten Commandments in public schools and another that would interfere with medical access for gender-affirming care.
July 29, 2024 Top Legal News of the Week
Religious symbols in schools, other issues on HOD agenda
Additional resolutions focus on experiential opportunities for law students, the treatment of homeless people with mental disabilities and several that advocate for human rights in specific countries.
The policymaking House, known as the HOD, encompasses approximately 590 delegates from ABA entities and state, local and specialty bar associations. With the posted agenda set weeks in advance of the meeting, late resolutions could be added to reflect proposed ABA policy responses to recent news developments.
Earlier this year, Louisiana became the first state to require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public schools. One proposal would establish as ABA policy opposition to any legislation that permits or requires such a display and urges repeal of any existing laws.
Also, across the country legislators have pushed aside recommendations of medical professionals and introduced bills that would limit gender-affirming care that typically targets transgender, non-binary and gender-expansive youth. A proposed resolution urges the enactment of laws that would protect access to medical treatment and allow health care professionals to provide such care.
The HOD will host two special programs. There will be a naturalization ceremony at 11 a.m. CDT on Monday, with the oath administered by Judge Virginia Kendall of the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Illinois. And, at approximately 2:30 p.m. CDT on opening day, a panel discussion, “ABA 150 and Beyond: Tradition, Values and Evolution,” will focus on how the legal profession is changing, what traditional aspects of the practice remain and what the future of the legal profession and the justice system holds.
Related links:
- 2024 ABA Annual Meeting
- Summary of HOD resolutions and selected resolutions:
- Resolution 503 related to religious symbols in schools
- Resolution 510 related to gender-affirming care
- Resolution 521 and Resolution 522, which focus on the work environment of law