Report from governmental affairs. Cracking cold cases
| Author | Holly Cook |
| Pages | 65-66 |
ABA JOURNAL | WINTER 2019–2020
66
REPORT FROM
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
Cracking
Cold
Cases
High school advocates
renew hope for answers
to civil rights-era mysteries
BY HOLLY COOK
Racially motivated murders
and crimes committed more
than six decades ago during
the civil rights era remain
unsolved and unprosecuted. In most
cases, victims and their families got no
information, no justice and no closure.
Ever wonder what happened? High
school students in New Jersey did, and
they did something about it, prompting
government actions that may soon lead
to the release of information about
these cold cases.
Four years ago, Stuart Wexler and
his advanced placement U.S. Govern-
ment students at Hightstown High
School discussed the 1963 church
bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, that
killed four girls and injured at least 14
others. While that case was prosecuted
decades later, the students were shocked
to learn that most cases were never
prosecuted and details about them re-
mained classied. Wexler challenged his
students to do something about it.
The students wanted to get previous-
ABA Insider | REPORT FROM GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
ly sealed and undisclosed information
about these cold cases released. Using a
1992 law to release records from Presi-
dent John F. Kennedy’s assassination as
a model, the students created their own
legislative solution and drafted a bill
to release information from civil rights
cold cases. They lobbied to get sponsors
for their bill in both the House and the
Senate. In December 2018, Congress
passed the Civil Rights Cold Case
Records Collection Act of 2018 on an
overwhelmingly bipartisan basis.
Getting Congress to pass the act was
important, but how could high school
students persuade the president to
sign it into law? Using social media, of
course. The students created a website
educating people about their efforts.
They also started a social media cam-
paign on Twitter, asking people to help
urge President Donald Trump to sign
the act before it was too late. They were
successful, and on Jan. 8, 2019, Trump
signed the act into law.
The law requires the National
Archives and Records Administration
to create a civil rights cold case records
collection to preserve the records and
to coordinate the disclosure process
with other federal agencies. The law
also creates a Civil Rights Cold Case
Records Review Board to facilitate case
review, transmission of information to
the archives and potential disclosure to
the public.
Students meet with U.S. Sen. Doug
Jones before he introduced the Civil
Rights Cold Case Records Collection
Act in the Senate in July 2018.
press.coldcaseact.com
him- or herself. This is common in
immigration court, where there is no
right to a government-funded attorney.
Resolution 121E, recommending that
federal appeals courts expand their pro
bono programs for immigrants who are
representing themselves, passed on the
consent calendar.
And the House also passed Resolu-
tion 121F, which calls on Congress and
the Justice Department to change rules
that currently penalize immigrants who
appeal their cases by taking away their
options for voluntary departure. Vol-
untary departure is considered a benet
in immigration law because it permits
immigrants to return to the United
States legally sooner than they could if
they had been deported.
The nal resolution in the series
was Resolution 121C, which calls for a
group of policies aimed at helping the
immigration courts function better. This
includes restoring immigration judges’
ability to close, delay and terminate
cases—revoked in a series of decisions
by then-U.S. Attorney General Jeff Ses-
sions—and restoring the policy against
deporting immigrants who haven’t
committed crimes. The resolution also
calls for systemwide electronic ling
(currently, e-ling is a pilot project in
only ve of the 63 immigration courts)
and giving judges civil contempt pow-
ers. Finally, it calls for increased efforts
to hire immigration judges from diverse
professional and personal backgrounds.
Ryan, speaking in support of Resolu-
tion 121D, noted that immigration law
is currently highly volatile.
“One day the rule is you can go to
an immigration judge to get bond, and
the next day you can’t,” said Ryan, a
partner at Nutter McClennen & Fish in
Boston. “We don’t know what’s going
to happen tomorrow. So that’s why we
need this.” Q
READ ABOUT
THE ABA HOUSE
RESOLUTION ON
CELLPHONE BANS AT
ABAJOURNAL.COM.
Continued on page 69
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