Video: ABA Midyear Meeting Panel on Viewpoint Diversity

Are the ABA and the legal profession doing enough to promote viewpoint diversity?

In February, I participated in an important panel at the American Bar Association Midyear meeting on viewpoint diversity. I will write much more about the event in due course. The video is below, and you can download the transcript here.

Here is the panel description:

Are the ABA and the legal profession doing enough to promote viewpoint diversity? A panel including longtime ABA members with diverse approaches will discuss the issue of viewpoint diversity at the ABA and more broadly.

Welcome and Introduction: Mary Smith, President of the American Bar Association

Panelists:

• Josh Blackman, Centennial Chair of Constitutional Law at the South Texas College of Law
• Ellen Rosenblum, Attorney General of the State of Oregon
• Juan Thomas, Of Counsel, Quintairos, Prieto, Wood & Boyer P.A.
• Philip D. Williamson, Partner, Teft Stettinius & Hollister LLP

Moderator: Hon. Danny J. Boggs, U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit

This panel will discuss whether ABA policies, programs, and membership sufficiently reflect the diversity of viewpoints within the legal profession. Then-ABA President and future Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell warned almost 60 years ago: "it is essential that the basic policy of avoiding political involvement be strictly followed except where issues clearly involve the Association's primary responsibilities," arguing that delving into partisan politics "could jeopardize the Association's very existence." As the self-described "national voice of the legal profession," the ABA represents all types of lawyers, with differing political views, and has now adopted many policy positions "on diverse issues of importance to the legal profession" including access to justice, criminal justice reform, gun violence, social justice in voting and many more.

Recognizing that we live in an era of sharp political and policy divisions, a recent ABA president asked that we as attorneys focus on "civics, civility and collaboration" to collectively restore confidence in our legal system. Other leaders urge that the ABA must speak out on controversial issues, on which consensus does not exist, even when lawyers disagree. One of our panelists recently observed in the ABA Journal that the Association "needs ideological diversity to ensure its future." While recognizing that "many attorneys contend that the ABA is insufficiently progressive and the bar is too conservative," he argues that present policies and positions of the Association lack the full spectrum of views, "alienate conservative lawyers" and have likely contributed to declining membership and "a growing disconnect" with state bars on issues of professional conduct and diversity. A new caucus within the ABA has organized to investigate and advocate on these issues and hopes this panel starts a conversation about diversity of viewpoints and professionalism within the ABA.