Vincent G. Rinn Law Library

Senators Re-introduce "State Secrets" legislation to Fill Legal Gap

In response to several Bush era cases against the government involving issues including torture, rendition and warrantless wiretapping, ( See: Reforming The State Secrets Privilege ) that were dismissed on the basis of government claims of "state secrets' and also, the recent similar position of the Obama administration on an appeal of one of those cases, Mohamed et. al. v. Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc. (Reply Brief of Plaintiffs-Appellants), several senators have re-introduced “The State Secrets Protection Act". The act is intended to "... help guide the courts to balance the government’s interests in secrecy with accountability and the rights of citizens to seek judicial redress."

While historically, the state secrets doctrine was mainly used to withhold from introduction, specific pieces of evidence rather than the wholesale dismissal of a case. The Supreme Court has left unquestioned the much broader application taken by the Bush administration. The responsibility to provide guidance and procedures in this legally ambiguous area should reasonably fall upon the Congress. The stakes are too high for the rule of law, for this legal vacuum to be left unaddressed.

Also,in this spirit, the Brennan Center has made a proposal for AN INDEPENDENT COMMISSION TO INVESTIGATE VIOLATIONS OF THE RULE OF LAW IN COUNTER-TERRORISM POLICY. They state that " Such a commission is the best way to achieve both accountability and an understanding of how to design an effective counter-terrorism policy that also comports with our fundamental values." The commission would examine and assess past practices and policies and "would also identify the individuals responsible for improper or illegal actions". This orientation may not comport with what the new administration has said about "looking forward and not backward" when it comes to these sensitive issues of  the conduct of our national security policy.

Law Professor Shaman Quoted On Special Election Proposal For Former Obama Seat

Chicago Tribune columnist Eric Zorn has put together several statements on the  legal question whether holding an early special election for the U.S. Senate seat currently occupied by Roland Burris would be legal and constitutional, either under federal or Illinois law. He has quotes from some local government officials and local academics, including Professor Jeffrey Shaman from the DePaul University Law School. See his blog posting : "Could we really vote Temp. Sen. Roland Burris out of office early?"

DePaul Law School Not to Cross Congress Hotel Picket Line

DePaul Law School students and administration are looking for a new venue to hold their Barrister's Ball to avoid violating the multi-year long picket line by the striking Congress Hotel workers, as reported by chitowndailynews.org , "DePaul law school formal won't cross Congress Plaza Hotel picket line". Some DePaul students and staff have been supporting the hotel workers strike and picket line.

The roots of the strike are in the mid-90s when the Congress Hotel management pulled out of a multi-employer association that bargained  for the majority of Chicago hotels. In 2002 the association reached an agreement with the workers group, UNITE HERE! to have most of the city's hotels, increase benefits and wages substantially. In contrast, the Congress hotel's bargaining with the hotel employees "... demanded a 7 percent wage cut and no raises through the contract’s life, it refused to pay increases in health and welfare premiums, essentially eliminating health insurance and pensions".

Management claimed that because the hotel was independently owned, it could not provide the level of wages and benefits, negotiated by the other hotels."But UNITE HERE! officials are quick to point out that Congress’ ownership group is headed by Albert Nasser, a member of a wealthy family whose business interests span the globe".Despite the apparent effectiveness of the picketing on the hotel's business, the management has refused to change its take-back  proposal and as of July 2008 the two sides had not even met in a year.
( Source: "Five Years on the Hotel Picket Line", By Brian Cook, In These Times )

Union representatives made an appeal to DePaul officials to persuade them not use the Congress Hotel, at a reading by author and activist, Kim Bobo, founder and executive director of Interfaith Worker Justice. She read from her recent book, "Wage Theft in America" which provided a very appropriate context for the discussion.

excerpt of tenth chapter of her book from Dollars & Sense

Online Sources for Conference Report on "the Economic Stimulus Act"

From a recent  posting to GovDoc-L by Rick McKinney, Assistant Law Librarian Federal Reserve Board Law Library, Washington, DC :

1)  The Legislative Source Book (http://www.llsdc.org/sourcebook) of the  Law Librarians' Society of Washington, DC (LLSDC) now has a 1.5 MB file, in PDF, of the complete Conference Report, H. Rep. 111-16,  to H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which has been taken and combined from five Congressional Record (50 page) files on GPO Access (210 pages all together).

However, in case the LLSDC site gets swamped the conference report is also available at these other sites below.

2)  For the GPO Access Congressional Record site (http://www.gpoaccess.gov/crecord/) key in the search "Conference Report on H.R. 1" with the quotation marks to get all five file parts that were combined above.

 ...

3)  In addition the House Rules Committee (http://rules.house.gov) and the Office of the Speaker (http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?p=1694) have the conference report in four 6 MB parts (considerably hard to download).

[ Also at the Speaker's site there are three committee summaries available: ]

Detailed summary from the Appropriations Committee

Detailed summary from the Ways and Means Committee

Detailed summary from the Energy & Commerce Committee

Former Judge Earl Strayhorn , DePaul Law Grad '48, Dies at 90

[ Pictured: Judge Earl Strayhorn (‘48), & Justice Stevens at Justice Paul Stevens Award ceremony, 2004]

Judge Strayhorn was born in Mississippi and moved his family to Chicago. He attended Tilden High School and graduated from the University of Illinois. He received his law degree from DePaul University in 1948. During World War II he was a part of the famous Tuskegee Airmen.

After private practice, he held two public posts. But his longest  service was his 28 years on the Cook County Circuit Court bench. Judge Strayhorn was well regarded by his peers as both a lawyer and a judge. He received the Outstanding Service to the Judiciary award in 2000 from DePaul and the Justice John Paul Stevens Award for exemplifying the highest standards of the legal profession, from the Chicago Bar Association and Chicago Bar Foundation, in 2004.

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Sources: "Earl Strayhorn: 1918-2009; Judge, former Tuskegee Airman; Jurist long involved in civic affairs", Trevor Jensen. Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Ill.: Feb 18, 2009.
( For on-campus DePaul users or logged on through the proxy server, click on link below for access to the full text of the Tribune article : )
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1646974551&sid=2&Fmt=3&clientId=31663&RQT=309&VName=PQD

"dialogue" DePaul Law School magazine Winter 2004, p.24

Law Library Commemorates Lincoln

Associate Director Mary Lu Linnane has created a fascinating new display commemorating the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth. The display centers on Lincoln's relationship with the Supreme Court and highlights several documents from our collection signed by a number of Lincoln's Supreme Court appointees including, Chief Justice Salmon Chase (1864-1873); Samuel Miller (1861-1890) and Noah Swayne (1862-1881). 

We also have signed documents from some famous members of the court who were not necessarily  supporters of Lincoln or the Union cause during the Civil War. Among them, Chief Justice Roger Taney (1836-1864) (noted for the infamous decision, Dred Scott v. Sandford) and John Archibald Campbell (1853-1861) who resigned from the Supreme Court to join the Confederacy. The display is on the 5th floor near the circulation desk.

 

 

 

 

ISBA Donates Lincoln Bust to Illinois Supreme Court

  
Honorable Thomas R. Fitzgerald, Jack C. Carey, President, Illinois State Bar Association

The Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA), as part of the celebration of the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth, commissioned a sculpture of Mr. Lincoln that was presented in a special session to the Illinois Supreme Court on January 12,2009. The ISBA is also providing a limited number of smaller replicas of the sculpture to all law schools in Illinois. The bust was created by internationally recognized Lincoln sculptor, John W. McClarey, from Decatur, Illinois. Mr. McClarey specializes in works of Abraham Lincoln. He has sculpted numerous statues and busts of Abraham Lincoln, including the heroic size Lincoln, which is the in the courtyard at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield.

On February 10, Jack C. Carey, President, Illinois State Bar Association, was at the DePaul law school's student lounge to make the presentation of DePaul's own replica ("maquette") of the McClarey sculpture. The  15-inch maquette is mounted on a small stand with  a plaque entitled,“Prairie Lawyer: Master of Us All”. It "portrays a thoughtful Lincoln, chin resting in hand, as he would have appeared in his last year of law practice in 1859, just before his entering the race for the presidency." The gift was graciously accepted by Dean Weissenberger on behalf of DePaul. He said it will be placed in a display case in the student lounge area close to the wall with the photos of  judges who have graduated from the DePaul Law School.

Presentation of Bust of Lincoln to the Illinois Supreme Court
Recorded January 12, 2009 by the illinoischannel.org , 20 minute video

Law Faculty Contribute To Latest "Vincentian Heritage" Issue

  "Vincentian Heritage is a journal dedicated to promoting a living interest in the historical and spiritual heritage of the wide-ranging Vincentian family under the patronage of Saint Vincent de Paul (1581-1660) and Saint Louise de Marillac (1591-1660). " The volume 28 no. 2 issue focuses on "Vincentian Higher Education and Poverty Reduction". Three of the DePaul University Law School faculty members have contributed articles to this volume :

Reverend Craig Mousin, "The Important Question"
( Rev. Mousin also contributed to the preface along with Marco Tavanti, PH.D.)

Leonard L. Cavise, J.D. , "Law School Programs that Reduce Poverty: The Example of the Chiapas Human Rights Practicum"

Sioban Albiol, J.D. , "Meeting Saint Vincent's Challenge in Providing Assistance to the Foreign-Born Poor: Applying the Lessons to the Asylum and Immigration Law Clinic"

Subscribing to "Vincentian Heritage"

Wikileaks Site Posts All Electronic CRS Reports

The website Wikileaks which specializes in posting leaked documents from dissident communities and anonymous sources to foster transparency in government, has posted the total output of Congressional Research Service (CRS) electronically available to Congressional offices.

The CRS is Congress's analytic agency providing congresspersons with top notch information and analysis, on request. CRS  is part of the Library of Congress and as part of Congress is exempt from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Traditionally,  CRS reports to Congress have only been publicly available if released by a congressperson. Congressional bills to make CRS reports publicly available have been defeated since 1998. Some measures to make such releases easier have been tried.

The Wikileaks commentary accompanying their release, sees this resistance as motivated by the need to maintain what they call "spin control". They cite an internal CRS memo from 2003 that speaks of not "impairing members communication with their constituents".The memo tries to characterize providing public access to its reports, as inserting the agency into the relationship that should only be between the congresspersons and their constituents.That somehow, "this threatens the dialog on policy issues between members and their constituents that was envisioned by the Constitution".

High sounding words but a citizen might ask why communication would be threatened by providing both sides with the same expert information and analysis. Unless what is actually threatened is a particular portrayal of that information that is based on personal and political considerations. What is usually referred to as "spin". It is more difficult to spin the story when the recipients have access to the same sources and can make their own judgments.

Law Professor Wayne Lewis Featured in New DePaul Publication

Law Professor Wayne Lewis is featured in the inaugural issue of the new online DePaul University publication, "Distinctions". According to Provost Helmut Epp, the new publication is meant to make both internal and external constituencies aware of significant work and achievements of DePaul faculty and staff. Professor Lewis's first person article speaks to the  distinctive orientation to be found at DePaul where people coming from different faith traditions or none, work together for the shared common values of respect for each individual and social justice that are Saint Vincent's legacy to all of us.