What is social justice? How easy is it to lose sight of the desire to practice in the field of social justice in law school…to lose your heart? What are some of the steps towards becoming an attorney in the field of social justice? What are the rewards? These are just a few of the questions that this thought-provoking article answers.  Social justice advocacy is counter-cultural without exception in the legal profession.  A student once committed to a career of social justice lawyering may quickly become disillusioned by the inevitable realization that much legal work consists of upholding law that is arguably unjust.  In this open letter to a law student, William Quigley, a Loyola University New Orleans College of Law professor, identifies the obstacles presented in pursuing social justice, the qualities of character and actions necessary to successfully engage in a pursuit that faces overwhelming criticism and disappointment, and the rewards reaped by those who are persistent in pushing a dream to become reality.  The letter concludes that hope and love, elements at the center of social justice advocacy, must first be cultivated within the advocate through a healthy life before they can be given to and shared with others.

Many are not aware of the arduous journey a bill faces before it is passed into legislation.  Often times the obstacles take form in powerful political leaders with monetary motives or otherwise self-serving conflicting agendas.  The account of a piece of legislation titled the Rental Housing Support Program, an initiative of the It Takes a Home to Raise a Child campaign, sheds light on the difficulties presented to many campaigns by the opposition of egocentric politicians.  Julie Dworkin, the Director of Policy for the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, claims that a successful campaign utilizes a multi-faceted approach consisting of strategic relationships, media outreach, community organizing, direct action, policy and research, among many other suitable possibilities.  While the affordable housing campaign in this article enjoyed the initial success in the passage of the Homeless Prevention Act, several hard-learned lessons surfaced over the course of the several years it took to eventually pass the bill.  Dworkin emphasizes the importance of utilizing a full range of advocacy tools, and most importantly, persistence to effectively pursue social justice.

Too often, access to legislation enacted to protect some of the United States’ most vulnerable citizens sits just beyond their already exhausted reach.  The majority of those financially eligible to receive free legal counsel are left without.  Margaret Benson, the Executive Director of the Chicago Volunteer Legal Services Foundation, claims that social justice benefits people, the courts, the legal system and the society that harbors all of them, but maintains that justice is often impeded by numerous procedural hurdles too difficult to clear without an attorney’s aid.  Attorneys providing minimal pro bono legal services ineffably help those who would otherwise face the court system alone.  Pro bono attorneys empower those in a weaker legal position and bring social justice to individuals who might otherwise never enjoy its intended benefits.

VOLUME 1, NUMBER 2

MARC FALKOFF, THIS IS TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: A GUANTÁNAMO NARRATIVE, 1 DePaul J. for Soc. Just. 153 (2008).  Subscribe

It is easy to assume that the American justice system provides just that, justice.  However, the stark reality is that the American legal system provides anything but for the prisoners in Camp Echo at Guantanamo Bay.  This firsthand account of current prisoner Adnan is told through the eyes of his attorney Marc Falkoff, an Assistant Professor at Northern Illinois University College of Law and representative of 14 Guantanamo detainees.  Through narratives, DoD documents and Adnan’s hunger strike-inspired poetry, his experience sheds light on all too common prisoner abuse, a three year waiting period before receiving a status hearing, and unlivable conditions.  Adnan was even denied pants in order to prevent him from kneeling to pray.  Has America become the monster in pursuing ‘the war on terror’?

ANDREA J. RITCHIE & JOEY L. MOGUL, IN THE SHADOWS OF THE WAR ON TERROR: PERSISTENT POLICE BRUTALITY AND ABUSE OF PEOPLE OF COLOR IN THE UNITED STATES, 1 DePaul J. for Soc. Just. 175 (2008).  Subscribe

Racial profiling has been a blight on the back of the American justice system since the first state-sponsored police force, slave patrols.  Andrea J. Ritchie and Joey L. Mogul, Attorney at the People’s Law Office and Staff Instructor for the DePaul College of Law Civil Rights Clinic, respectively, outline the intensity of brutality against African Americans, Asian Americans, Arabs and Indians as one of the most pressing human rights problems today.  This atrocity has only been exacerbated by the increased liberty of discretion that police officials have enjoyed following the 9/11 attacks.  The piece goes on to highlight the obvious violation by the United States of the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination through its failure to prevent and punish these horrific acts of racially-fueled police brutality.  The article goes on to portray several examples of heart-wrenching torture experienced under the hands of the very justice system in which every-day Americans place their faith.

CRAIG B. FUTTERMAN, H. MELISSA MATHER & MELANIE MILES, THE USE OF STATSTICAL EVIDENCE TO ADDRESS POLICE SUPERVISORY AND DISCIPLINARY  PRACTICES: THE CHICAGO POLICE DEPARTMENT'S BROKEN SYSTEM, 1 DePaul J. for Soc. Just. 251 (2008).  Subscribe

This piece opens with the heart-wrenching account of one African-American woman’s  suffering through threats, assaults, racial discrimination and sexual abuse at the hands of the Chicago Police Department; what is worse, her story isn’t the only one.  Between 2002 and 2004, 10,149 complaints of sexual abuse, racial abuse, excessive force, illegal searches and false arrests were filed against the Chicago Police Department.  Craig B. Futterman, Clinical Professor of Law at University of Chicago Law School, H. Melissa Mather, Attorney and former Clinical lecturer at the University of Chicago, and Melanie Miles, an Associate at Schwartz Cooper Chartered, Chicago, IL, brought suit against the city of Chicago on behalf of Diane under a Monell claim using the underutilized tool of statistical analysis.  The Monell standard for bringing claims against local municipalities is extremely stringent and proves often futile for victims to bring claims about abuses of power.  Therefore, compiling the statistical data to prove a policy of a failure to supervise officers helps, not only directly, but also to prove causation and what amounts to negligence on the part of Chicago city officials.

RUTH SINGER, RACE IPSA? RACIAL PROFILING, TERRORISM AND THE FUTURE, 1 DePaul J. for Soc. Just. 293 (2008).  Subscribe

In the current post-9/11 era, many United States officials have resorted to racial profiling as a law enforcement tool, despite the inherent problems in its effectiveness.  When a shift in the major focus of criminal profiling turns to racial identity, the dangerous assumption yielded is that racial identity can be substituted for criminality.  Ruth Singer, a graduate of Florida A&M University College of Law, articulates the reasons why racial profiling is unconstitutional and ultimately undermines law enforcement, resulting in loss of public confidence and trust in the judicial system.  Examples of the myriad problems created by implementation of racial profiling include cultural alienation, terrorist adaptation and even generation of sympathy for the terrorist cause.  While federal agents and institutions may publicly condemn racial profiling, the apparent lack of consequences for its practice illustrates nothing but the impunity with which it acts towards the violators of fundamental liberties.  Unfortunately, some ethnic groups’ civil rights are respected more than others’ and conversely, others’ liberties are considered disposable in the name of national security.  The threat of one group’s liberties ultimately poses a threat to the liberties of all, and until racial profiling is outlawed, no individual’s rights are secure.

ANTHONY PAUL FARLEY, SEASONS IN THE SUN: REFLECTIONS ON RACE AND THE RACE FOR THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION, 1 DePaul J. for Soc. Just. 323 (2008).  Subscribe

The United States has a long and painful history of discrimination that came to the apex of the 2008 elections.  In the Keynote Address at the 10th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Reflection and Commemoration at DePaul University College of Law, Anthony Farley, James Campbell Matthews Distinguished Professor of Jurisprudence at Albany Law School, notes the key uses of race in the run-up to the 2008 election.  He specifically notes the divergence in the democratic candidates, then-Senator Hillary Clinton and then-Senator Barack Obama.  This divergence of race is specifically highlighted around MLK’s birthday celebration during the campaign and the various comments made by the candidates.  Farley goes on to espouse the positive mindset of the Obama campaign and to highlight the darkness of the Bush presidency.

MICHAEL MAHER, SOCIAL JUSTICE AND LIFE-LONG INTEGRATION: THE BUSINESS OF THE UNIVERSITY, 1 DePaul J. for Soc. Just. 351 (2008). Subscribe

What is the purpose of the University: to teach only facts?  Or is it to help students discover meaning in the life the students pursue?  Dr. Michael Maher, the Chaplain at Loyola University Chicago, teaches a lesson that the educational experience is not strictly about academics and activities, but also a time to enrich the search for the student’s meaning in a career and in life.  This, in turn, creates a method for social justice not to just become an add-on to the classroom, but rather an integral part of a student’s life.  Maher also addresses some of the obstacles to achieving this in the University, such as the lack of ability to quantify the student’s understanding of meaning in life and the negative light often shed on the abrasiveness of social justice work.  Finally, Maher ends with a reminder that while in the University, one must never forget those that clean the chalkboard, made the pen in the factory, or delivered the textbooks; the University is an integration of experiences, social justice, and knowledge, not just a place for facts to be learned.

VOLUME 2, NUMBER 1


Erik Camayd-Freixas, Raids, Rights and Reform: The Postville Case and the Immigration Crisis, 2 DePaul J. for Soc. Just. 1 (2008). Subscribe

After September 11, 2001 the government strengthened its efforts to deport illegal immigrants in the United States.  In 2008, the government raided a slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa, and gained national attention for its treatment of migrant workers.  In his insightful article, Professor Erik Camayd-Freixas highlights his unique experiences as a federal interpreter interacting with the detained migrants, attorneys, and Postville community during the initial hearings.  Professor Camayd-Freixas gives a brief history of the country’s treatment of immigrants, and focuses his attention on recent government deportation programs, including ICE’s Operation Endgame that was formed to eradicate illegal immigrants from the country.  Camayd-Freixas also examines the criminalization of migrant workers, in particular how the government tried to justify its actions in Postville by classifying undocumented immigrants as terrorists.  Finally, the article emphasizes the country’s dependence on migrant workers, and the need to reach a better solution in order to preserve migrants’ human rights and the country’s economy. 

Rockne Cole, Letter from Rockne Cole, Criminal Defense Attorney to Zoe Lofgren, Congresswoman, 2 DePaul J. for Soc. Just. 25 (2008).  Subscribe 

In a letter to Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, Criminal Defense Attorney Rockne Cole describes his experience after being summoned to represent the migrants detained in the Postville raids.  Mr. Cole traveled to a private meeting at the United States District Courthouse in Cedar Rapids to learn about the government’s plea plans for the detainees.  After learning about pre-selected plea deals and the government’s wishes to expedite the processing of the migrants, Mr. Cole removed himself as defense counsel for the migrants.  Mr. Cole believed that he was unable to serve his client’s ethically due the government’s action and the likelihood that there would be a conflict of interest between some of the ten to forty clients he was to represent.  In his letter, Mr. Cole asks for the  United States District Court Judge and the Department of Justice be investigated for their handling of the Postville workers defense. 

 
Sioban Albiol, R. Linus Chan, & Sarah J. Diaz, Re-Interpreting Postville: A Legal Perspective, 2 DePaul J. for Soc. Just. 31 (2008). Subscribe 

 The Postville raid highlighted the nation’s changing attitude towards immigration, and the failure of the legal system to protect the workers that were targeted in the raid.  In this article, authors Sioban Albiol, R. Linus Chan and Sarah J. Diaz examine the intersection of civil immigration proceedings with newer judicial removal procedures that were used in Postville.  The authors explain the various avenues that undocumented immigrants are often able to pursue in to avoid deportation and how the expedited procedures in Postville deprived the workers of these options.  The article further explores the constitutional issues raised by the government’s decision to combine criminal and immigration proceedings.  In questioning the impartiality of the judiciary, the article highlights the judiciary’s expanded role in the Postville proceedings, and asks what would have happened if the workers had refused the plea deals?  The authors also address the gross violations of the worker’s individual rights, and the prosecutors’ abuse of fast-tracking procedures.  The author’s conclude by cautioning the use of such volatile procedures in immigration, and call for proper checks on such proceedings in the future. 

Virginia Martinez, Jazmin Garcia, & Jasmine Vasquez, A Community Under Siege: The Impact of Anti-Immigrant Hysteria on Latinos, 2 DePaul J. for Soc. Just. 101 (2008).  Subscribe 

In recent years, the United States has seen a growing hostility towards Latinos.  In this piece, authors Virginia Martinez, Jazmin Garcia, and Jasmine Vasquez explore the current attitude of Americans towards both documented and undocumented Latinos, highlighting that the Latino community now faces increased racial profiling and the risk of being targeted by various hate groups.  The article explains the impact of Congress’ failure to come to an agreement on a reformed immigration bill, and how states and communities have passed their own discriminatory laws against undocumented residents,  further the Latino community.  The piece does offer hope, by highlighting how some communities have worked towards a more positive, integrated experience for immigrants, and authors’ expectation that the nation will someday adopt the same sentiment. 

Karen A. Lash, Pitching Pro Bono: Getting To First Base With The “Big Firm”, 2 DePaul J. for Soc. Just. 141 (2008). Subscribe 

What is the best way to get big firms to sign-on to a pro bono project?  In this guide to pitching pro bono work, author Karen A. Lash lays out a detailed framework to help practitioners get their pro bono projects accepted by big firms.  The guide outlines the process from beginning to end, including the importance of outstanding marketing of cases, the proper selection of clients, and the need to be upfront with the firms and attorneys about what is expected from them.  Advice from large firm pro bono coordinators supplements this guide, along with examples of successful projects.  With a well organized project and the advice of Ms. Lash, pro bono work can be a seamless experience for the pro bono agency, the client, and the firm.