By Alan Pickert • JBA past president
Forty-three topics and resolutions were considered and debated at the American Bar Association House of Delegates summer meeting Aug. 9-10 in Chicago.
Here are some of the few that were approved:
• Resolution 507 opposes the continued use of private prisons for detention or corrections purposes and urges all governmental units to terminate their contracts with private prisons.
• Resolution 509 urges the highest court or Bar admission authority of each jurisdiction to adopt rules that would allow attorneys in their jurisdiction to earn continuing education credit for service as a poll or election worker.
This means that for elections, attorneys would be able to generate much-needed CLEs to cover their required three-year commitment.
• Resolution 514 seeks adoption of federal and local hate crime legislation and specifies civil remedies and First Amendment protections to be built into the legislation.
The policy specifically states that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are covered by the resolution.
• Resolution 604, entitled “Law Enforcement Body-Worn Camera Policies,” seeks appropriate government entities to develop comprehensive policies regarding the use of cameras, as well as the use and storage of their footage.
One sponsor of the resolution noted that “this resolution is one step” to improve police-community relations and serves as a “roadmap for developing policies that will make body-worn cameras to be a more effective tool…that we hope will improve trust in the justice system.”
• Resolution 609 opposes any federal, state, local, territorial or tribal legislation, regulation or policy that prohibits transgender students from participating in athletics in accordance with their gender identity.
• Resolution 11-2 postpones until after the 2023 annual meeting determination whether representation of ABA sections and state and local Bar associations should be reduced based on membership numbers.
Alan Pickert, a partner at Terrell Hogan, is the Jacksonville Bar Association’s representative in the ABA House of Delegates.