During the final day of debate of the American Bar Association House of Delegates, policy was adopted in support of marriage equality, micro stamping of newly manufactured semi-automatic pistols, and in support of the United States ratifying the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

The ABA’s House of Delegates considers recommendations presented to it by various association entities, as well as state and local bars, twice a year when it meets for its Annual and Midyear Meetings.  Recommendations that are adopted become official policy of the association, allowing it to lobby before Congress and the executive branch on the issues. 

The discussion on marriage equality occurred days after Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker of the United States District Court of Northern District of California ruled that the California Proposition 8 initiative was unconstitutional. The policy, as adopted by the House of Delegates, urges state, territorial and tribal governments to eliminate legal barriers to civil marriage between two persons of the same sex who are otherwise eligible to marry.

Introducing the proposal, former ABA President Robert Grey argued that the fundamental issue was one of equality.  There was an era in which we as a nation needed to consider gender equality, equality for all races and equality for people with disabilities, he said.  “Denial of civil marriage harms [same-sex couples] and their families, excluding them from critical legal protections married people take for granted.”  

Incoming ABA President Steve Zack asked one question of the delegates, “Why would anyone in this country not want two people who love each other to enjoy the blessings of marriage, and the full protection of the law?”

Carolyn Lamm, who completed her one-year tenure as president of the association at the end of the meeting, added that adopting the recommendation would “Honor the dignity and value of loving, committed relationships.”  

The House of Delegates also adopted policy urging federal, state and territorial governments to enact laws requiring that newly manufactured semi-automatic pistols be fitted with micro stamping technology to better enable law enforcement officials to identify the serial number of the pistol used in a crime. 

In addition, the ABA adopted recommendation 107(A), urging the United States to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.  Supporting the recommendation which was brought to the House by the ABA Section of International Law, Michael Byowitz of New York, spoke about the importance of rule of law.  The policy builds on existing ABA policy in support of the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons, he said.  President Obama’s administration is aggressively pursuing U.S. ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

During the meeting of the House of Delegates, the ABA also took steps to further Voluntary Good Practices Guidance for Lawyers to Detect and Combat Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing and urging Congress to enact laws that provide for a Startup Visa for foreign citizens forming businesses under which they can enter the United States and obtain permanent residency to build such businesses. It also adopted policy urging federal, state and other governments to provide funding to public defender offices and legal aid programs for the provision of advice about immigration consequences of criminal proceedings to indigent, non-U.S. citizen defendants.

The American Bar Association meets twice a year; its next, Midyear Meeting, will be held in Atlanta in February 2011.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

At a 2005 workshop, a senior official in the U.S. government's Minerals Management Service raised concerns about ultra-deepwater drilling and included the bullet point, "Few or no regulations or standards." Within two years, Jim Grant left his post as chief of staff of the government's Gulf of Mexico region to take a job with BP PLC — one of the companies his former agency regulated in its oversight of offshore drilling.

Grant's change is one example of the revolving door between the Interior Department's MMS and the oil industry, which increasingly has the attention of Congress, the Obama administration and watchdog groups after the disastrous BP oil spill at an ultra-deepwater rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

Just this week, a government report said drilling regulators have been so close to the industry they've been accepting gifts from oil and gas companies and even negotiating to go work for them.

As BP's regulatory compliance and environmental manager for the Gulf of Mexico strategic performance unit, Grant has weighed in on several offshore drilling proposals by his former federal employer and other government agencies.

Last fall, speaking at a U.S. ocean policy task force, Grant cautioned the group to "carefully weigh policies that may establish exclusionary zones, disrupt the MMS leasing program or affect opportunities for economic growth," according to a statement posted at WhiteHouse.gov. He said BP supports access to areas previously off-limits to leasing, such as the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

Lie low; go about your business. Don't campaign; keep your name out there. Don't seem too eager; find ways to shine.

There's no etiquette handbook for the elite few on Barack Obama's short list for the Supreme Court. Nor is there any shortage of advice.

As the president closes in on his choice to fill a vacancy on the high court, the short-listers know all their words, moves and actions are under intense scrutiny.

For all of them, one job is paramount: Avoid messing up.

"You don't want something showing up on YouTube that's going to kill your chances," says historian Julian Zelizer. "The etiquette seems to be: Don't say anything about why you would be a good pick, and act as if you're not going to be the pick."

Those being considered to replace Justice John Paul Stevens include judges, a governor, top administration officials and others in high places who can't avoid constant questions about whether they'd like the job and whether they've been contacted about it. They're adopting all sorts of coping strategies.

Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm has talked herself up on cable TV at times and thrown cold water on her prospects on other occasions. Federal appeals judge Diane Wood's credentials are being lauded by former law clerks. Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano employs the polite non-answer.

Napolitano appeared on several TV news shows Sunday to discuss the attempted car bombing in Times Square, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and unrest over immigration in Arizona. Inevitably, the subject of the Supreme Court vacancy came up as well.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

Is it possible that the election of the first Republican senator from Massachusetts in more than a generation will boost revenues of select Philadelphia law firms?

Scott Brown's upset win changed the dynamics of the health-care debate overnight. Depending on your point of view, the possible collapse of Obamacare may or may not have ill portents for the nation's health-care system.

But there's one group that almost surely will benefit. The thousands of lobbyists on and off Capitol Hill who labor on behalf of health-industry clients can now count on at least a few more monthly retainers.

Nothing stimulates the flow of lobbying dollars like uncertainty on Capitol Hill.

One little-known fact about Washington lobbying is that a goodly number of lobbyists are employees of law-firm subsidiaries. The biggest firms in Philadelphia have Washington offices, and most have lobbying contingents there and in the region's state capitals.

For these firms, lobbying doesn't generate anywhere near as much revenue as high-end legal work. But it is a steady source of income that's all the more important now that legal revenue for many firms is flat or down and the gains from cost-cutting have been captured.

You can, after all, lay off only so many first-year associates before there are no more first-years left.

http://www.philly.com/philly/business/homepage/20100209_Law_Review__Health-care_debate_is_good_business_for_lobbyists.html

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.