By Shana-Tara O’Toole | Due Process Institute | President
There is a magic to naming things. A name can make a feeling or experience more real. It can turn an animate object into something more than just the sum of its parts. In what I feel are some of the most beautiful pages of prose in the English language, the Sri Lankan-born Canadian novelist Michael Ondaatje merely names various winds. To name is to give power.
I, like you, have spent so much time this year naming the big and little difficulties—a global deadly pandemic, deep political unrest, racial hatred, businesses–including my own–shuttered, friends and family sick or even gone forever, devastating fires, joyous music festivals cancelled, America’s pastime played to empty stadiums, the trips not taken, the meetings not made, the cases not argued, the people in jails and nursing homes not visited, all the handshakes and hugs we’ve gone without. So it seems particularly important this year to make sure I also take the time to put a name to what I am grateful for—lest the good things lose some of their power in a world that is already hurting.
A Thank You to Our Advocacy Partners
I name and honor the hard-working staff at the following organizations (in no particular order) for joining Due Process Institute advocacy letters, amicus briefs, or lobbying campaigns. The list is stunningly long and I feel deep and abiding gratitude for these partnerships during a challenging year. Together, we have done some collective good and for that I am grateful:
ACLU; ACLU of Illinois; ACLU of Maryland; ACLU of Ohio; ACLU of Pennsylvania; ACLU of Washington
Buried Alive Project
National Alliance on Mental Illness
Cato Institute
Center for Democracy & Technology
Freedomworks
Deason Criminal Justice Reform Center at Southern Methodist University
FAMM
The Bronx Defenders
Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia (PDS)
Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School
#cut50, a program of Dream Corps
Southern Center for Human Rights
Brennan Center for Justice
Texas Public Policy Foundation + Right on Crime
Center for Disability Rights
Prison Fellowship
Fines and Fees Justice Center
Innocence Project
James Madison Institute
Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)
American Bar Association
National Association for Public Defense (NAPD)
National Employment Law Project (NELP)
Pretrial Justice Institute (PJI)
Fair Trials
Americans for Prosperity
Black Public Defender Association
Federal Public and Community Defenders
TechFreedom
Institute for Justice
Forensic Justice Project
Justice Action Network
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
American Conservative Union
The Legal Aid Society
National Legal Aid and Defender Association (NLADA)
Fair and Just Prosecution
The Project on Government Oversight
Americans for Tax Reform
The Justice Collaborative
National Urban League
REFORM Alliance
Academy for Justice at the Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law
Demand Progress
R Street Institute
Faith and Freedom Coalition
Aleph Institute
NAACP Legal Defense Fund
ALEC Action
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
Reason Foundation
Amistad Law Project
National Council of Churches
Drug Policy Alliance
The Sentencing Project
Human Rights Watch
Tzedek Association
Justice Roundtable
Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP)
Access Now
We Got Us Now
Center for Security, Race and Rights
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
Media Alliance
Oakland Privacy
People Demanding Action
South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT)
CAN-DO Clemency Project
Center for Constitutional Rights
College and Community Fellowship
CURE International
Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
Just Future Project
American Friends Service Committee-WV
Defending Rights & Dissent
Free Press Action
Government Accountability Project
National Coalition Against Censorship
New America’s Open Technology Institute
Restore The Fourth
S.T.O.P. – The Surveillance Technology Oversight Project
X-Lab
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)
Center for Biological Diversity
People For the American Way
Project for Privacy and Surveillance Accountability (PPSA)
Revolutionary Love Project
RootsAction.org
Center for Justice Research at Texas Southern University
Center for Integrity in Forensic Sciences
Computational Justice Lab at Claremont Graduate University
Wilson Center for Science and Justice at Duke University School of Law
JustLeadershipUSA
Safer Foundation
Mackinac Center for Public Policy
DKT Liberty Project
A Little Piece Of Light
All of Us or None
Braxton Institute
Church of Scientology National Affairs Office
Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, U.S. Provinces
Consult CR/ Co Founder of Racial Justice Initiative
Criminal Justice Clinic, UC Irvine School of Law
CURE
DC Jail and Prison Advocacy Project
Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop
FREE! Families Rally for Emancipation and Empowerment
Health in Justice Action Lab, Northeastern University School of Law
Illinois Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
Equal Justice USA
Human Rights for Kids
Virginia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice
Chicago Council of Lawyers
Civil Rights Corps
Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area
Legal Aid Justice Center
LatinoJustice PRLDEF
Oklahoma Women’s Coalition
Oregon Law Center
Still She Rises; Still She Rises, Tulsa
FedCURE
The First 72+
Poligon Education Fund
Center for Employment Opportunities
Chicago Jobs Council
Equal Justice Under Law
Good + Foundation
Harvard Undergraduates for Bipartisan Solutions
Human Rights Defense Center
Insight Center for Community Economic Development
Justice & Accountability Center of Louisiana
Juvenile Law Center
Libertas Institute
Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition
Minnesota Asset Building Coalition
National Center for Law and Economic Justice
National Center for Youth Law
National Consumer Law Center
New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty
North Carolina Justice Center
Ohio Poverty Law Center
Oklahoma Women’s Coalition
Prison Policy Initiative
Shriver Center on Poverty Law
Southern Legal Counsel, Inc.
Texas Appleseed
Texas Civil Rights Project
Texas Fair Defense Project
The Bail Project
The San Francisco Financial Justice Project
UC Berkeley School of Law, Policy Advocacy Clinic
Washington Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
Washington Defender Association
Archdiocese of Washington Advocacy
College & Community Fellowship
Grassroots Alliance for Justice
H.O.P.E., Inc
International CURE
Justice Advocates
Life for Pot
MI-CURE
Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice
Mommieactivist and Sons
National Action Network
National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls
National Incarceration Association (NIA)
National LGBTQ Task Force
Pennsylvania CURE
The Taifa Group
Union for Reform Judaism
Abolitionist Law Center
Ardella’s House
Atlantic Center for Capital Representation
The Barristers’ Association of Philadelphia, Inc
Defender Association of Philadelphia
Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
Pennsylvania Prison Society
Philadelphia Bar Association
Public Interest Law Center
Youth Sentencing & Reentry Project
Presente Action
Progress America
Project Blueprint
Project South
Public Citizen
Secure Justice
Society of Professional Journalists
Union of Concerned Scientists
Union for Reform Judaism
Win Without War
Woodhull Freedom Foundation
World Privacy Forum
Yemeni Alliance Committee
Yemeni American Merchant Association
The Justice and Accountability Center of Louisiana
The Libre Initiative
Digital Liberty
Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Southern Poverty Law Center Action
Alianza Americas
Alianza Nacional de Campesinas
Cause of Action Institute
Democracy 21
La Asociación Campesina de Florida
National Council of Jewish Women
National Security Counselors
Niskanen Center
Open the Government
Protect Democracy
Wind of the Spirit
Witness to Innocence
ACCESS of WNY
American Booksellers for Free Expression
American Family Voices
Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain
American Friends Service Committee
American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA)
Arab American Civic Council
Arab American Institute
The Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI)
Beyond the Bomb
Carceral Tech Resistance Network
CODEPINK
Common Defense
Constitutional Alliance
Courage California
DuckDuckGo
Equality Labs
The Feminist Foreign Policy Project
Fight for the Future
Freedom Forward
The Freedom to Read Foundation
Free Speech Coalition
Freedom of the Press Foundation
Government Information Watch
Indivisible
Institute for Policy Studies, New Internationalism Project
Islamophobia Studies Center
Jetpac
Just Foreign Policy
Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library
Liberty Coalition
MediaJustice
Movement Alliance Project
MPower Change
MSA West
Muslim Justice League
OpenMedia
Other98
PEN America
American Association for Justice
Physicians for Human Rights
Public Justice
Second Amendment Foundation
Innocence Project New Orleans
The Rutherford Institute
Alliance Defending Freedom
The Roderick & Solange MacArthur Justice Center
(Friends–please know that Due Process Institute is deeply grateful to the efforts of all #CriminalJusticeWarriors. Whether you are on this year’s list or not, you are in our thoughts.)
A Thank You for Our Litigation Partners
Did you know that the term “amicus” is Latin for “friend”? In the spirit of giving thanks, we acknowledge those lawyers (and their supporting law firms) who have helped us write and file some of this year’s amicus briefs. These incredibly skilled lawyers provided their expertise and valuable time pro bono to help us illuminate the most important due process issues facing courts today. We are humbled by their service:
Lawrence S. Lustberg + Thomas R. Valen of Gibbons PC for their work on Kouisis v. US.
Kendall Turner from the DC office of O’Melveny & Myers LLP for her work on Fogleman v. Mississippi.
Timothy O’Toole + Katherine Pappas of Miller & Chevalier LLP for their work on Stein v. US.
Alec Schierenbeck at the NY office of O’Melveny & Myers LLP for his work on US v. Jackson.
Catherine Stetson + her team at Hogan Lovells US LLP for their work on Taylor v. Riojas, Zadeh v. Robinson + Corbitt v. Vickers.
Chloé M. Chetta of Barrasso Usdin Kupperman Freeman & Sarver LLC for her work on Allen v. Edwards.
Anton Metlitskyof the NY office of O’Melveny & Myers LLP for his work on Torres v. Madrid.
Claudia Wilner of National Center for Law and Economic Justice as well as Katherine Chamblee Ryan + Tara Mikkilineni from Civil Rights Corps for their work on Motley v. Taylor.
Wesley Hottot and his team at Institute for Justice for their work on Nichols v. Wayne County.
John D. Cline for his work on Aposhian v. Barr (rehearing en banc).
Cheyenne N. Chambers of Tin, Fulton, Walker & Owen + Tyce R. Walters of Latham & Watkins for their work on Community Success Initiative v. Moore.
Jessie Ring Amunson + her team at Jenner & Block LLP for their work on West v. Winfield + Shaffer v. Pennsylvania.
And finally, a #GratitudePost wouldn’t be complete without thanking our incredible Board Members or our talented bipartisan staff or beloved independent contractors or our office dogs [the youngest of whom is pictured above wondering why none of the staff come to the office anymore]–all of whom have supported Due Process Institute’s work this year.
Conclusion
Our work with these talented individuals and organizations from across the political and ideological spectrum is undeniable proof that #BipartisanWorks. We are all made better for working with each other rather than against each other, despite our many differences. Thank you.
As the American poet Mary Oliver wrote: “It is a serious thing just to be alive on this fresh morning in the broken world.” Naming each of you is my humble acknowledgement of your contributions to repairing this broken world and I look forward to all our work together still to come.