Rosenstein defends zero-tolerance immigration policy

• Pages: 62-63

setting guidelines for lawyer advertising.

Lucian Pera of Adams and Reese i n

Memphis, Tennessee, told delegates that

in the decades sinc e the 1977 U.S. Sup reme

Court decision in

Bates v. State Bar of

Arizona

allowed lawyers to advertise their

services, there’s been a “breathtaking

variation in advertising rules” among states.

The amendments were ne cessary to clarif y

and simplify the se rules, said Pera, cha ir of

the Center for Professional Responsibility.

Resolution 100B calls on Louisian a and

Oregon to end the prac tice of permitting

felony convictions by a less-than-unanimous

jury vote.

Resolution 114 includes guidelines aimed

at stopping incarceration of people solely

because they can’ t pay court fi nes and fe es.

The resolution adopts the Ten Guidelines on

Court Fines and Fees from the ABA Working

Group on Building Pub lic Trust in the Ameri-

can Justice System . The guidelines are

provided to jurisdictions as a best-practices

guide to avoid creating debtors’ prisons in

the ordinary course of administering justice.

Resolution 104C supports an inter-

pretation of the A ordab le Care Act that

would include discrimination on the basis of

sexual orientation and gender identity in the

defi nition of sex discrimination.

Resolution 104D calls on jurisdictions to

pass legislation providing job-guaranteed

paid sick days and job-guaranteed family and

medical leave.

Resolution 104E calls on jurisdictions

to adopt rules preventing a nd addressing

gender-based workplace violence, including

sexual harassment, pregnancy discrimina-

tion, discrimination on the basis of sexual

orientation or gender identity, and dis-

crimination on the basis of domestic violence

victimhood. I t also asks employers to adop t

robust policies against workplace gender

violence.

Resolution 106A condemns “the harass-

ment, arbitrary arrest and detention, arbi-

trary disbarm ent, denial of due process ,

other ill-treatment and killings of judges,

lawyers, other members of the legal profes-

sion and their extended families throughout

the world for servin g in their designated

capacities.”

Resolution 106B recognizes groups out-

side the legal profess ion for the “import ant

role that nonlawyer human rights defenders,

journalists and ot hers play in protecting ju s-

tice and the rule of law ” and saying the ABA

“deplores attacks on those professions, as

well as on individual s, aimed at silencin g or

intimidating human rights voices.”

Resolution 118 supports transgender

service members in the military and calls

on the federal governme nt “to recognize

that service by per sons who otherwise m eet

the standards for accession or retention,

as applicable, i n the United States Armed

Forces should not be restr icted, and trans-

gender persons should not be discriminated

against, based on gender identity.”

Resolution 113 o ers model rules of

conduct for administrative law judges and

urges jurisdictions to adopt ethical principles

consistent with those model rules. State

ALJs aren’t covered by judicial conduct rules

for judicial-branch judges, but many states

don’t have adequate r ules for protecting

their independence, North Carolina chief

administrative law j udge Julian Mann II I told

the House. Mann sa id ALJs are subject to

executive-branch c ontrol, which puts them

outside the ambit of state judicial conduct

codes and makes them vulnerable to inap-

propriate interference from executive-

branch o cials. Most often , ethical rules

that apply to lawyer s apply to ALJs, he sai d,

even though they’re not designed f or people

in judicial roles. Q

PHOTOS BY KATHY ANDERSON

ROSENSTEIN DEFENDS ZERO-TOLERANCE IMMIGRATION POLICY

Your ABA || ANNUAL MEETING REPORT

Deputy Attorney Gen eral Rod Rosenstein received a rock-sta r

welcome during the op ening forum of the ABA Annu al Meeting.

Speaking to a stand ing room-only crowd, Rosen stein received

multiple standing ovations as he discussed the importance of

preserving and p romoting the rule of law wh ile defending U.S .

Department of Justice policies regarding e orts to com-

bat foreign meddlin g in U.S. electi ons and the recent

zero-tolerance policy on illegal immigration.

“The rule of law is indi spensable to a thrivin g and

vibrant society,” he sta ted. “It shields citi zens from

government overreach. It allows businesses to invest

with confi dence. It gives innovators protection for

their discoveries. It keeps people safe from danger-

ous criminals. An d it allows us to resolve

di erences peacefully through

reason and logic.”

In a Q&A session

with then-ABA

President

Hilarie Bass, Rosenstein a rmed his belief that zero tolerance was

consistent with the ru le of law, and that the DOJ was simply do ing its

job in enforcing the laws and treating everyone equally.

“It would be wrong to say we’re prosecu ting everyone without

regard to the law,” said Rosenstein , who also stated that the re were

large numbers of people “blatantly violating the immigration laws

of this country.” He add ed that “if the facts of th e law justify pros-

ecution, then we’re committing the resources to ensure everyone

is treated equally rath er than picking and cho osing who will be

prosecuted.”

CLASSIFIED ACTIONS

Rosenstein also assured those in attendance that federal agen-

cies are doing a lot to comba t foreign meddling in ele ctions and

propagation of fake news . “Because a lot of the i nformation we

learn is from classifi ed intelligence, there’s a lot we don’ t talk about

publicly,” Rosenstein said.

He noted that federal a gencies—includin g the FBI, DOJ and

Department of Homeland Security—are constantly briefi ng state

and local elect ion o cia ls about cyberthrea ts and attacks. He a lso

said federal agen cies are taking steps to comba t hacking of political

campaigns and c andidates and pointed to t he July indictment of 1 2

Russian nationals by Special Counsel Robert Mueller as evidence

of this commitment.

When asked about the opi oid crisis and safe inje ction sites as a

means of combating the ongoing issue, Rosenstein was dismissive.

“It’s illegal; it ’s a crime,” he said. “I thi nk you can anticipate that

62 || ABA JOURNAL OCTOBER 2018