Law prof picks Roberts over Obama on privacy
Scott Lauck
The Daily Record (Kansas City)
When it comes to his ex-students, Laurence Tribe currently has a little more faith in John Roberts than in Barack Obama.
Tribe, a Harvard Law School professor and prominent constitutional legal scholar whose former students include the U.S. Supreme Court’s chief justice and the president of the United States, spoke Tuesday to about 1,000 high school and college students at Johnson County Community College in suburban Kansas City. Though a self-described liberal, Tribe praised the conservative-leaning Roberts Court for several important rulings that protect individuals’ privacy, including a recent decision that helps protect users’ smartphones from searches.
Warning: This Column is about THE LAW
Journal of the Kansas Bar Association
What I'm about to write may shock you, so be prepared. But this month's column is about THE LAW Yes, a legal column. More than just that, it's a First Amendment column. So, grab some smelling salts, get back in your chair, and once you've finished reading this, you might just qualify for CLE credit. Doubtful, but think positive.
You see, a long time ago, a high school library here in the metro had an award-winning book on its shelves that was removed by order of the school board. The book, "Annie on My Mind" by Nancy Garden, recounts a story of a romantic relationship between two high school girls. The book is fiction. But the controversy resulting from the school board's decision to remove the book was anything but; once placed, and then removed, several students sought to assert their First Amendment rights to have the book kept on the shelf. The year was 1995.
UMKC School of Law student plays important role in recent Sandra Day O’Connor forum
UMKC Law School News
When former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor spoke in the Kansas City area in November, a UMKC School of Law student played an important role in her visit.
O’Connor visited with more than 1200 high school students on the campus of Johnson County Community College on the afternoon of November 12, speaking about the importance of their role in government. Prior to that, the job fell to third-year student Sara Hofeditz Christensen to make sure those students were ready for that message. Through a summer internship with the ACLU of Kansas and Western Missouri, Hofeditz Christensen wrote curriculum for a summer camp focusing on student rights. It was through this internship that she became involved with the Johnson County First Amendment Foundation—the organization who organized O’Connor’s forum—and she was called upon to work with Ken Thomas, an Advanced Placement government teacher at Blue Valley Northwest High School, to create a curriculum around the event.
Sandra Day O’Connor student forum
Liz Kuhlmann
bvnwnews.com
BVNW AP Government and AP US History students took a field trip to listen to Sandra Day O'Connor, first woman Supreme Court Justice, give a student forum.
Over 1200 students from all over the Blue Valley area were given a once in a lifetime opportunity earlier today as they visited Yardley Hall to listen to former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor speak in a forum about her experience as the first woman to serve on the court, and about law and federalism in general.
Government teacher Ken Thomas said he wanted to accomplish two things with the presentation. The first item on his list was stressing the importance of civil education, and Thomas believes O’Connor did this well in her speech. The second objective was to emphasize how wonderful a story O’Connor has.
“Her story demonstrates that hard work and perseverance can overcome so many obstacles,” Thomas said. “The fact that she graduated at the top of her class from Stanford University. She applied to 40 law firms, and they straight up turned her down and said they wouldn’t hire her because they didn’t hire women … Here is a person who is so far ahead of her time, the criticism that was reaped upon her when she was nominated. She made a point of saying that you shouldn’t not do something just because you’re the first. She did a really great job of saying it’s OK to be first. It was just a really powerful message that she gave.”
‘You can make a difference’ on issues, former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor tells students
By JOE ROBERTSON
The Kansas City Star
This much former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor knew:
More than a thousand high school students were waiting in Yardley Hall at Johnson County Community College, bused in from 25 area high schools Tuesday, assembled to hear her message of civic duty.
What she didn’t know was the back story that led her there.
That was the real-life drama of high school students 20 years ago in Olathe who stood before their school board — and ultimately a federal judge — asserting their First Amendment rights.
“What was the outcome?” O’Connor asked as she listened to the story backstage.
The wheels were turning inside her head. She was going to add this story — how teenagers had interceded when a school board moved to pull an award-winning book from its school library’s shelves — to the message she was about to deliver to the students:
“Don’t be afraid to get involved in issues of public law. We need you.”
Lawyers celebrate First Amendment program that grew from flap over 'Annie'
Oct. 3--More than a decade after a lawsuit forced the Olathe School District to keep a homosexual-themed novel in school libraries, lawyers this week celebrated a First Amendment program that grew out of it.
The Olathe district had to pay winning attorneys almost $170,000. That money was used in 1999 to start the First Amendment Foundation Program, which was founded to promote those rights. Much of that effort is in Johnsons County.
Shook Hardy and Bacon of Kansas City, Mo., the winning law firm, contributed $30,000 more to start a program that has sponsored many college scholarships.
Copyright permission granted by The Permissions Group, Inc.
SHB Recognized for Longstanding Commitment to ACLU
October 14, 2009 - For the Public Good, Shook, Hardy & Bacon, February 2010, p. 21
Recognizing a partnership established over two decades ago, the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas & Western Missouri recently presented Shook, Hardy & Bacon with the organization’s Advocate of the Year Award. The firm was selected for its “long and deep history of support of the ACLU” and its “extraordinary commitment to Civil Liberties in Kansas City over many years.” Partner Bill Hays and Director of Pro Bono Services Jolie Justus accepted the award on behalf of the firm during the biannual Liberty Awards Dinner on October 14, 2009, in Kansas City.
Johnson County First Amendment Foundation’s 10th Anniversary Program a Success
By Bill Hayes - Diversity News, Shook, Hardy & Bacon, December 2009, p. 15
Shook, Hardy & Bacon, LLP established the Johnson County First Amendment Foundation on December 22, 1999, after the successful resolution of a banned-book case in the Olathe, Kansas School District. The banned book was Nancy Garden’s Annie on My Mind, the story of a romantic relationship between two teenage girls. The court ordered the losing party—the Olathe School District—to return Annie to the library’s shelves and to pay SHB $170,000 for the attorney’s fees it had incurred. The firm then used those fees, plus $30,000, to establish the foundation. The foundation’s charter is to promote a better understanding among Kansas students of the First Amendment and other constitutional rights.