Vol. 114, Iss. 13 | Wednesday, November 20, 2024
The Flat Hat The Weekly Student Newspaper
of The College of William and Mary
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flathatnews.com | @theflathat
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Liz Cheney wins Citizen Lawyer award, law student groups protest Law Schoolʼs Institute of the Bill of Rights Law awards congresswoman for work on Jan. 6 committee, groups host alternative film screening
MADIGAN WEBB // THE FLAT HAT
Monday, Nov. 11, the Institute of the Bill of Rights Law presented former Congresswoman Liz Cheney with the Citizen Lawyers in Action Award at the College of William and Mary Law School due to her role investigating insurrection on the January 6th committee. Simultaneously, the Law School National Lawyers Guild and the Law School Students for Justice in Palestine hosted a film screening event in opposition to the award ceremony which highlighted Cheney’s controversial stance on torture tactics. The Institute of the Bill of Rights Law described recipients of the Citizen Lawyer in Action Award as those who exhibit an extraordinary commitment to democracy in an era of heightened polarization. The Law School explained that the inspiration behind this award was striving to not only train lawyers, but to train lawyers who are capable of leading democracy. They call these individuals citizen lawyers. Alfred Wilson & Mary I.W. Lee Professor of Law and Director of the Institute of the Bill of Rights Law Allison Orr Larsen remarked that while not everyone agrees with Cheney’s policies, she was selected for the award because of her commitment to democracy at the expense of her individual interests. “A citizen lawyer is a person who uses their law degree to lead in their communities, whether as a profession or as a volunteer or just as a voice of reason in any collective decision-making process,” Larsen wrote in an email to The Flat Hat. “A citizen lawyer today can and should come from all backgrounds and can hold a wide array of political views. What citizen lawyers have in common is that they know members of the legal profession have a special responsibility to buttress our democracy and the rule of law.” The Law School National Lawyers Guild and the Law School Students for Justice in Palestine disapproved of Cheney winning the Citizen Lawyer in Action Award. Their complaints include Cheney defending the Obama birther conspiracy, serving in the Department of State during the War in Iraq, formerly opposing same-sex marriage and initially supporting the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision.
On Instagram, the two groups posted a statement describing their disappointment with the Institute of Bill of Rights. “W&M prides itself as the first law school in the country to produce globally-minded citizen lawyers. As law students of conscience, we cannot ignore the blatant hypocrisy of naming Liz Cheney-one of the most forthright war mongerers in modern history-a citizen lawyer. We refuse to dilute the meaning of the citizen lawyer by welcoming a proponent of racist foreign policies, torture tactics, and war-profiteering onto our campus,” the statement reads. Daniel Ogden J.D. ’26, co-chair of the Law School National Lawyers Guild, explained that chief among these concerns is Cheney’s stance on torture. “She’s in Tweet fights with Megan McCain about whether or not torture is moral, that’s absurd, and you’re supposed to be a citizen lawyer,” Ogden said. “It’s a war crime according to the United Nations and it doesn’t work. Seeing any human being having their humanity taken away from them because you think they might have done something is entirely gross.” Mustafa Turaani J.D. ’26, vice president of the Law School Students for Justice in Palestine, explained that the purpose behind the film screening was to illuminate the upsetting reality behind Cheney’s visit to the Law School. “They had Secret Service and cops all over the school, it was pretty glamorous and students were intrigued by that, but the purpose of what we were doing was to shed a light on who you’re really excited about and what they really represent,” Turaani said. “I wonder as a Brown guy if there’s no room for anybody like me in that kind of space, at the work that she does, with war mongering and the support of torture. It really goes to show how it’s rooted in racism and in gross attitudes about ‘the other’ and we’re better than that.” Student Assembly President Terra Sloane ’25 did not respond to The Flat Hat’s requests for a comment. The jointly organized film screening played “The Report,” a film surrounding the investigation of the CIA’s enhanced interrogation
techniques post-9/11. These interrogation techniques included but were not limited to waterboarding, mock burials and sexual humiliation. Liz Cheney defended the Enhanced Interrogation Program, calling the members of the program brave, and arguing that these techniques saved lives. However, the extensive Senate report on the same program found that these techniques produced no intelligence and that agents fabricated information in order to keep the program running. Derek Meuth J.D. ’26 said that the administration was picking and choosing moments of Cheney’s political career that concurred with their ideals of a citizen lawyer. Instead, he expressed wanting a candidate who continuously fought for the values of democracy. “Becoming a citizen lawyer isn’t just one action but it’s something you achieve over your lifetime,” Meuth said. “I get that she put her personal gains aside by doing the election committee, but I don’t think that’s really award winning. That’s doing the bare minimum by saying that the election wasn’t stolen.” Although some students agreed that Cheney’s bravery in leading the January 6th committee was commendable, they still felt that there were better candidates for the award. Jason Whitted J.D. ’26 spoke on other candidates he thought were a better fit to be a citizen lawyer than Cheney. “It’s understandable, but at the same time, I feel like there’s a lot more deserving people, especially in Virginia that align more with my view of what a citizen lawyer in action is,” Whitted said. “I look at Elaine Lauria, who was a Congresswoman in the Virginia Beach area, and was also part of the January 6 committee. Her representing Virginia means more to me than Liz Cheney.” Meuth outlined an alternative view of what a Citizen Lawyer in Action should be moving forward. “I want to see lawyers in the William and Mary community and those who aren’t in the public eye,” Meuth said. “Those whose work isn’t getting out to law schools or to law journals but who are still pushing to make sure that their community has representation. I think that’s who I’d like to see win this award.”
CAMPUS
Center for Student Diversity hosts panel, documentary screening on tribal law
Lawyers specialized in sacred justice discuss legal protections, preservation of tradition specific to Native American history SAM POTEET THE FLAT HAT
Wednesday, Nov. 13, the Center for Student Diversity hosted a screening of the documentary “Warrior Lawyers: Defenders of Social Justice” followed by a panel discussion. The documentary’s executive producer Audrey Geyer, Chief Justice of the High Court Melissa Holds the Enemy of the Upper Mattaponi Tribe of King William, teaching professor of anthropology and director of American Indian Resource Center Dr. Danielle Moretti-Langholtz and assistant professor of anthropology Dr. Buck Woodward served as the panelists. The event was hosted in collaboration with the College’s departments of Strategic Cultural Partnerships and Student Accountability and Restorative Practices. The documentary focused on the stories of tribal judges, Native American lawyers hailing from Michigan and others working within the legal framework of indigenous communities to promote sacred justice. Interim Director of the Center for Student Diversity Monique Williams delivered introductory remarks, highlighting the importance of Native American Heritage Month and studying Native American histories. “It is no secret to anyone in my office that
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curiosity is one of my favorite William and Mary values and is the core of what drives our work in our center,” Williams said. “It is also why we gather here today to celebrate Native American Heritage Month and to honor the traditions, languages, stories and resilience of Native American communities and to ensure their rich histories and contributions continue to thrive with each passing generation.” Masters student at the Batten School of Coastal and Marine Sciences Jack Hatch ’22 recited the land acknowledgment and introduced the PBS documentary. “The program focuses on stories of Native American lawyers, tribal judges and their colleagues who work with Native nations, their citizens and mainstream institutions to achieve healing and sacred justice,” Hatch said. “These unseen role models strive daily to address, repair and resolve unique, complicated historical, governmental, legal, judicial and social welfare issues which are most often rooted in discrimination, historical trauma and cultural destruction.” After the screening, Administrative Coordinator for Strategic Cultural Partnerships Margaret Morrison moderated the panel. Morrison first asked the panelists to share how the documentary resonated with them and its connection to their work.
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Moretti-Langholtz reflected on how the crucial work done across Michigan as shown in the film has been difficult to replicate in Virginia due to legal barriers. “Tribes east of the Mississippi have been left out of so much important work that we saw in this film because of their lack of federal recognition until recently,” Moretti-Langholtz said. She emphasized that federal recognition is needed to grant tribal court jurisdiction and see restorative justice in action. Holds the Enemy touched on how the tribal sovereignty demonstrated in the film makes her hopeful for a future where all native people and governments have true sovereignty. “This is a true assertion of sovereignty for a tribal nation to put a court in place,” she said. “If there was ever a demonstration of tribal sovereignty, this is what it is. This is a prime example, having a court in place where that tribal nation, those people have that venue available to them, because as tribal people we’ve grown up already within a society where we’ve been told, ‘you’re not up here, you’re down here, you come later. Your issues aren’t ours.’” Geyer expressed how eye-opening producing the documentary was. “The more I learn and the more I interview, the more I realize how little I still know,” Geyer said. “That’s really one of the main reasons why
I decided as a non-native person to do these documentaries, because a couple of times during my life it struck me how little I knew about Native American history and contemporary issues facing tribal communities and Native American citizens.” Ari Pearlstein ’26 asked the panelists about the current status of the Indian Child Welfare Act in light of recent Supreme Court rulings. ICWA is a 1978 federal law that protects native children and centers tribal court jurisdiction and sovereignty. Geyer explained the current status of ICWA and fears surrounding the ruling. “It was challenged, brought to the Supreme Court,” Geyer said. “And some of the Native American attorneys in the documentary voiced their concerns about, is it going to be shut down, declared unconstitutional? So there was a lot of fear and concern. And luckily, it wasn’t. I mean especially in the light of such a conservative court.” Holds the Enemy emphasized the constant battle Native Americans and tribal courts have to fight to maintain their sovereignty. “At what time for Indian tribes are we never being attacked? It’s common sense. We’re at a point as Indian people where it’s second nature for something of ours to try to be attacked,” she said. See CENTER page 4
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