Protests Cause Cancellation of Rhenquist Award Assembly Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit source - "Art Heitzer" NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD, MILWAUKEE CHAPTER, 606 W. Wisconsin Ave., #1706 Milwaukee, WI 53203 (414) 273-1040, fax (414) 273-4859=20 PRESS RELEASE -- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 24, 2002 Contact: Milw. NLG, 414 273-1040, ext. 12=20 REHNQUIST AWARD ASSEMBLY CANCELLED DUE TO PROTEST PLANS, BUT PROTEST AGAINST AWARD AT "INVITATION ONLY" CEREMONY WILL PROCEED AT 3PM ON MAY 24 In response to plans by students of Chief Justice William Rehnquist's high school to walk out in protest against honoring him, officials of the school have cancelled the all-school awards ceremony intended to honor him. Rehnquist was graduated from Shorewood High School, in suburban Milwaukee, WI, in 1942. After alumni and school officials announced plans to honor him as perhaps their most famous graduate, students and civil rights supporters concerned with his record of allegedly undermining civil rights and voting rights announced plans to protest the award. Their request for an opportunity in the school for a discussion of his record and the appropriateness of the honoring him was denied, and they plan a peaceful protest outside of the school starting at 3pm today on Oakland Avenue, south of Capitol Drive, to coincide with the award ceremony.=20 While school officials remain adamant that the award will be given, they have given various reasons for canceling the previously planned assembly in Rehnquist's honor. According to the School paper Ripples, which Rehnquist had helped staff in his high school years, "in response to security concerns and planned student protests, . Rehnquist will no longer address students at an all-school assembly. Students had planned a walkout and demonstration during Rehnquist's acceptance of Shorewood's first Tradition of Excellence award." The paper continued, "as anti-Rehnquist pamphlets circulated and plans for student demonstrations came to light, Rick Munroe, principal, decided on a lower profile event," in which only selected students will be invited to attend. Quoting Munroe, the paper explained "'Inviting Rehnquist to the school where he would be protested is like inviting someone to your house and putting them down.'" The students had attempted to circulate a flyer listing "Ten Reasons to Protest Chief Justice Rehnquist," but the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin had to twice intervene to work out agreements to allow them to do so, after students carrying the flyers were told they could not enter the school if they had them in their backpacks. Later, they were denied the opportunity to announce on the school's public address system a meeting where their concerns would be discussed. Among the reasons cited in the flyer was Rehnquist's role in stopping the recounting of votes in Florida after the November 2000 presidential election, and his writings which favored allowing state-enforced racial segregation to continue as being constitutional, a view which was unanimously rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954. His stance allowing execution of childhood offenders and mentally impaired, and his active opposition to an ordinance prohibiting racial discrimination in public accommodations were also cited. Zoe Cohen, one of the students critical of the award, said that she favored more opportunity to discuss the issues about Rehnquist's record within the school. She was one of several students who addressed the school board on May 14th with a request that some kind of forum be set up for that purpose, but this was not honored.=20 School Board President Emily Koczela wrote to Shorewood resident Larry Dupuis that day, stating that the administration "will not permit an assembly to be held during school time on the subject of Justice Rehnquist's Supreme Court record." She added that "Every student in the school is well aware of the controversy over Rehnquist's record. No further work on your part is needed to bring balance to that controversy, as your side of that debate has been thoroughly publicized." Finally, she described alumni and neighbors who were looking forward to "an apolitical visit home from their old friend Bill. We are unwilling to turn their friendly gesture into a political event." To contact the coalition or for more information, including citations to Rehnquist's record, see www.nlg.org/milw, http://65.25.162.108/rehnquist/ or www.geocities.com/justice_watch, or contact the National Lawyers Guild at 414 273-1040. Some of the information gathered by the Coalition about his record is contained on the following page. Contacts: Zoe Cohen (Shorewood High Student), Phone: 962-6285, email: zoeedith@hotmail.com Andrew Ruble (Shorewood High Student), Phone: 967-9302, email: ragmannne@aol.com Larry Dupuis (Shorewood Resident), Phone: 332-5468 (evenings); email: dupuislj01@aol.com Henry Hamilton, III, Atty. hhamil3@aol.com (414) 760-2347 Arthur Heitzer (Milwaukee Chapter, National Lawyers Guild), 273-1040, ext. 12 ______________________________ A BRIEF SUMMARY OF CONCERNS RE JUSTICE REHNQUIST'S RECORD. Justice Rehnquist's record of undermining of civil rights began well before his action in stopping the counting of presidential votes from Florida in the November 2000 Presidential election and awarding the presidency to George W. Bush. These include: In 1964, Rehnquist actively fought passage of a Phoenix ordinance permitting Blacks to enter stores. Testimony about Rehnquist's personal efforts to suppress minority voting can be heard in the "Democracy Now!" report at http://www.webactive.com/pacifica/demnow/dn20001212.html During the early sixties, Rehnquist personally participated in "Operation Eagle Eye" an Arizona Republican attempt to challenge voting rights of minorities (primarily Hispanics). Rehnquist testified under oath during his Senate confirmation hearings that he had not personally challenged voters, but this has been called into serious question by the testimony of four others involved, including a former assistant US attorney for that district who affirmed that he witnessed Rehnquist in 1962 personally confronting voters and attempting to challenge their right to vote. He wrote a legal memorandum in 1952 "A Random Thought on the School Desegregation Cases," claiming that it would be unconstitutional for the courts to order school desegregation, and asserting that the notorious decision "Plessy v. Ferguson was right and should be re-affirmed." Official racial segregation might still be the rule of law today of this view had been accepted, but it was rejected by a unanimous U.S. Supreme court in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. Rehnquist's attempt to later claim that what he wrote did not reflect his own views. but those of the Justice he worked for, has been rejected by court historians as not being credible. However, he later drafted and submitted to President Nixon a proposed constitutional amendment to outlaw court-ordered use of buses to end segregation. The Senate confirmed with the largest negative tally for any Chief Justice. At that time 75 legal scholars expressed grave concern about a "disturbing thread" regarding his "integrity and ethical standards." And more recently, the Chief Justice helped to stop the recount of Florida votes, which awarded a contested presidency to George Bush. This ruling was based on temporarily expanding the Constitution's Equal Protection clause in a manner that Rehnquist and his allies on the court had not afforded to citizens of color in civil rights cases, and then ruling that this holding would not have general application in future cases. Meanwhile, the court did not address the widespread exclusion of African-American voters and others in the Florida elections. Over 670 legal scholars stated this was a ruling, not of a court of law, but of political partisans. ### ### ### ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytrc-05.24.02-05:17:31-22600