Section Newsletters

Articles on Human Rights

Thoughts on the creation of the United Nations Human Rights Council By Mark E. Wojcik Human and Civil Rights, April 2006 The U.N. Human Rights Commission had been created with good intentions for protecting and promoting international human rights law, but along the way the countries who were elected to membership on the Commission had terrible human rights records.
2005 Illinois Human Rights Commission decisions By Alisa B. Arnoff Labor and Employment Law, March 2006 Recent cases of interest to labor & employment law practitioners.  
Case notes By Douglas A. Darch & Thomas A. Bruno Human and Civil Rights, December 2005 Recent cases of interest.
Pandemic flu—A rights shambles By Amy Gajda Human and Civil Rights, December 2005 If the experts are right and a flu epidemic hits this year or next year or some year soon, life as we know it in the United States will likely change for awhile.
Illinois groups turn to international bodies for assistance in promoting human rights By David W. Austin Human and Civil Rights, September 2005 As illustrated by two recent news stories, bar associations and human rights organizations in Illinois are increasingly turning to international bodies in their efforts to combat local abuses of human rights.
New Illinois laws affecting human rights: A selected survey of recent legislation approved in Illinois By Mark E. Wojcik Human and Civil Rights, September 2005 One of the more important functions of each section council involves the review of legislative proposals submitted to the state (and sometimes federal) legislature. Section council members review and comment on proposed legislation, drawing upon the council's collective wisdom and experience in the field of human rights.
Teaching about genocide-A new Illinois law mandates that schools teach about the seven human rights catastrophes in addition to the Holocaust By Elizabeth Al-Dajani Human and Civil Rights, September 2005 The law amends Section 5 of the School Code by requiring that public elementary and high schools teach about additional genocides and human rights catastrophes in addition to the Holocaust.
Personal Information Protection Act requires notification of security breaches By Michael R. Lied Human and Civil Rights, August 2005 A new Illinois statute, effective January 1, 2006, requires entities which collect personal data to notify individuals when there has been a breach of computer system security and where personal information may have been acquired.
Teenagers reportedly executed for homosexual conduct in Iran By Elizabeth Al-Dajani Human and Civil Rights, August 2005 Two teenaged boys were reportedly hanged on July 19, 2005 in Edalat (Justice) Square in the Iranian city of Mashhad, in northern Iran.
Smarter surfing: A guide to key human rights law Web sites By Kelly A. Fox Human and Civil Rights, March 2005 The Bora Laskin Law Library at the University of Toronto Law School manages this "authoritative and diverse" informational Web site.
Case comment By Thomas A. Bruno Human and Civil Rights, December 2004 The Illinois Supreme Court has ruled (The City of Urbana, Appellee, v. Andrew N.B., Appellant.-The City of Champaign, Appellee, v. Montrell D.H., Appellant. ; Docket Nos 95408, 95803; Opinion filed June 24, 2004) that it is a misuse of the contempt power of the court to impose a sentence of incarceration on minor defendants who fail to meet the terms of their court supervision sentences in municipal ordinance violation cases.
From Individual Rights to Human Rights: Does the new Section name also require a new policy agenda? By Mark E. Wojcik Human and Civil Rights, December 2004 At the 2004 ISBA Annual Meeting, the Section Council of the Section on Individual Rights and Responsibilities voted to change its name to the Section on Human Rights.
Some observations on the legal status of American Indians and American Indian tribes By James W. Springer Human and Civil Rights, December 2004 The legal status of Indians and Indian tribes under American law is unique, distinctive, and at times eccentric.
Torture and war crimes-Violations of international law and our constitutional values By Mark E. Wojcik Human and Civil Rights, May 2004 In recent days the world has seen shocking, horrific, despicable photographs of Iraqi prisoners who were being humiliated, abused, and tortured by smiling Americans.
Obiter dictum By John Readen, Jr. Racial and Ethnic Minorities and the Law, December 2003 Perhaps soon to be old news, the Alabama Supreme Court's recent run-in with the Ten Commandments is really not about what we read in the headlines.
Have you joined RISSNET? By James Bumgarner Human and Civil Rights, September 2003 If you are presently a member of VGTOF, Capps, TIA, or TIDISDM, you are also a member of RISSNET.
The USA Patriot Act: Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 By Phillip B. Lenzini Human and Civil Rights, September 2003 The USA Patriot Act, complete with the acronym, that was signed into law October 26, 2001 by President Bush, has been called many things. By some it is the collection of tools designed for combating the terrorism exemplified by the acts of September 11, 2001.
Second Appellate District holds that the privilege against self-incrimination does not apply to statutory summary suspension hearings—A critique By Larry A. Davis Traffic Laws and Courts, May 2003 In Village of Algonquin v. Tilden, 335 Ill. App. 3d 332, 280 N.E. 2d 832; 269 Ill. Dec. 360 (2nd D, 2002), the Second Appellate District held that a defendant can be compelled to testify as an adverse witness in a hearing conducted pursuant to her petition to rescind a statutory summary suspension without implicating the fifth amendment right against self-incrimination.
Wobblers weeble but they don’t fall down: The Wobbler effect and how it can get you 25 to life—An analysis of the U.S. Supreme Court’s approval of California’s “three strikes” law By Mary B. Dilger Human and Civil Rights, April 2003 On March 5, 2003, The United States Supreme Court affirmed the right of states to prescribe harsh sentences on career criminals, when it upheld California's "Three Strikes" law under which an offender can go to prison for many years for ostensibly minor offenses.
Human rights in Europe: 2002 By Benjamin L. Apt International and Immigration Law, March 2003 There was no particular trend in European human rights policies or jurisprudence in 2002.
Judicial campaign speech By Michael F. O’Brien Human and Civil Rights, December 2002 Dividing along its customary, 5-4, ideological fault line, the United State Supreme Court held in Republican Party of Minnesota v. White, ___U.S. ___, 153 L.Ed.2d 694, 122 S.Ct. 2528 (2002) (Scalia, J), that Minnesota's canon of judicial conduct prohibiting judicial candidates "from announcing their views on disputed legal and political issues" violated the First Amendment. 122 S.Ct. at 2532 & 2542 (emphasis added).
Protecting every Illinois family By Kenneth Dobbs Human and Civil Rights, December 2002 Imagine that you are a seven-year-old boy. Your parents rent a summer cottage at a campground for a vacation.
Ethnic bar helps prosecutors & community build bridges in combating hate crime By Matthew W. Beaudet Human and Civil Rights, September 2002 The validity of hate crime legislation is still being actively debated amongst our colleagues in the legal community.
Impact of the September 11th attacks on the freedoms of Arabs and Muslims By William J. Haddad Human and Civil Rights, September 2002 The Arab-American and Muslim communities in the United States were severely affected by the criminal attacks upon the United States of America on September 11, 2001 (9/11) by terrorists
“Economic development” takings restricted By Michael F. O’Brien Human and Civil Rights, June 2002 Perhaps signaling a trend toward greater protection of private property rights, the Illinois Supreme Court, in a highly unusual rehearing and reversal of its earlier ruling in the same case, held in Southwestern Illinois Development Authority v. National City Environmental, L.L.C., 199 Ill.2d 225, 768 N.E.2d 1, 263 Ill.Dec. 241 (2002) (SWIDA), that eminent domain cannot be used to take property for what it characterized as "purely private purposes," (768 N.E.2d at 11) even where that may stimulate "economic development." 768 N.E.2d at 9.
“The future of the section” By Patrick J. Hughes Human and Civil Rights, June 2002 By the time this reaches you, the ISBA Annual Meeting will be over and this section Council will have concluded its initial meeting of the new ISBA year (2002-2003).
War crimes tribunals— 1948 revisited By James Stern Human and Civil Rights, June 2002 Before rushing to embrace any International Courts or Military Tribunals in dealing with "war criminals," it would be worthwhile to examine how these proceedings have performed in the past.
Commission on Capital Punishment April 2002 Human and Civil Rights, May 2002 Now in private practice with a focus on mediation and arbitration, Judge McGarr served as a federal prosecutor and as the First Assistant Illinois Attorney General before spending 18 distinguished years on -the federal bench. He served as Chief Judge of the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Illinois between 1981 and 1986.
In this issue Human and Civil Rights, May 2002 As most of our readers know, on April 15, 2002, the long-awaited report of the Governor's Commission on Capital Punishment was released.
In this issue Human and Civil Rights, April 2002 Although we are not quite yet "back on track" in meeting our newsletter obligations, we have this second issue and with the assistance of the section council members, anticipate meeting our four issue annual obligation.

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