CBA Record July-August 2024

CBA RECORD

EDITOR’S BRIEFCASE BY JUSTICE MICHAEL B. HYMAN, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Justice’s Truest Form: The CBA’s Defense of Demonstrators Arrested During the Democratic Convention of 1968 C hicago has hosted more presidential nominating conventions than any other city—14 Republican, 11 Democratic, and 1 Progressive (a/k/a Bull Moose Party). In August, Democrats return to Chicago. The 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago is remembered not for the politi cal show inside the International Amphitheatre but for the public spectacle in Grant Park and along Michigan Avenue. Indeed, the treatment of the 1968 anti-war dem onstrators still haunts Chicago. Little remembered is the role of the Chicago Bar Association in defense of justice by its arranging for members to provide pro bono representation of those arrested. “The Whole World is Watching” On the third evening of the convention, the delegates gathered to nominate their presidential candidate. Meanwhile, 10,000 people assembled in Grant Park, the only demonstration for which Mayor Richard J. Daley had issued a permit. The police made a human barricade around the park to prevent a march to the Interna tional Amphitheatre. Latecomers poured onto Michigan Avenue near the Conrad Hilton Hotel. Soon, demonstrators, in defiance of police orders, started moving south toward the convention. That’s when Chicago police and the National Guard troops began to beat demonstrators, whack them with nightsticks, and use tear gas indiscriminately. With network television broadcasting the one-sided battle live, the demonstrators chanted, “The whole world is watching.” Observing was journalist and social activist Gloria Steinem, who has described what she saw as “a police riot,” adding, “I had never seen groups of policemen with lead-knuckle gloves and clubs going after civilians. There were pools of blood on Michigan Avenue.” At the convention, a U.S. Senator famously told delegates that the Chicago police were using “Gestapo” tactics, to which Mayor Daley famously gave a one-fingered response. The next day, in a statement to the delegates exculpating the police, Daley asserted that his administration “will never permit a lawless violent group of terrorists to… destroy the purpose of this national convention and take over the streets of Chicago.” Thousands of demonstrators were arrested. To defend them, about 180 mem bers of the CBA volunteered their legal services. This coordinated effort provided immediate counsel, ensuring the arrestees knew their rights and had competent rep resentation in all court proceedings. The bail hearings took three days, from 4 p.m. to 8 a.m., to complete. Lawyers challenged the legality of the arrests as well as the charges, arguing that the demonstrators were exercising their constitutional rights to free speech and assembly. All but a few demonstrators had their charges dropped or reduced. Volunteers also appeared for defendants requesting trial representation. And much to its credit, the CBA afterwards highlighted the excessive use of force by the police and the essential work of ensuring protection of civil liberties.

EDITORIAL BOARD EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Justice Michael B. Hyman Illinois Appellate Court

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Anne Ellis Council of State Governments Justice Center SUMMARY JUDGMENTS EDITOR Daniel A. Cotter

Dickinson Wright PLLC YLS JOURNAL EDITORS

Joanna Kopczyk Attorney at Law Nikki Marcotte Kirkland & Ellis LLP

Carolyn Amadon Samuel, Son & Co. Daniel J. Berkowitz Cruser, Mitchell, Novitz, Sanchez, Gaston & Zimet LLP Jacob B. Berger Tabet DiVito & Rothstein LLC Amy Cook Amy Cook Law LLC Nina Fain Janet Sugerman Schirn Family Trust Anthony F. Fata Kirby McInerney LLP Clifford Gately Quarles & Brady Meredith A. Geller Northwestern Pritzker School of Law Judge Jasmine Villaflor Hernandez Circuit Court of Cook County Kaitlin King Hart David Carson LLP Theodore Kontopoulos Internal Revenue Service John Levin Kathryn C. Liss DePaul University College of Law Bonnie McGrath Law Office of Bonnie McGrath Clare McMahon Reed, Centracchio & Associates, LLC Pamela Sakowicz Menaker Clifford Law Offices Kathleen Dillon Narko Northwestern Pritzker School of Law Alexander Passo Latimer LeVay Fyock LLC Adam J. Sheppard Sheppard Law Firm, PC Richard Lee Stavins Robbins DiMonte, Ltd. Rosemary Simota Thompson Judge E. Kenneth Wright, Jr. Circuit Court of Cook County THE CHICAGO BAR ASSOCIATION Sharon Nolan Director of Marketing

4 July/August 2024