Yale Law's Lowenstein Human Rights Clinic to Receive ADC Pro Bono Award During Convention
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) is proud to present the Annual Pro Bono Attorney of the Year Award to the Yale University Law School’s Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Law Clinic National Litigation Project during this year’s Annual Civil Rights Awards Lunch on Saturday June 13, 2009, during the ADC Annual National Convention.
You can register for the 2009 ADC Annual National Convention here or by calling (202) 244-2990. You may also email us to convention@adc.org.
The Lowenstein Human Rights Clinic and National Litigation Project, spearheaded by Professors Michael Wishnie and Hope Metcalf, continues to play a central and instrumental role in exposing targeted round-ups of Muslim immigrants during Operation Frontline in 2004 and 2005. Through the work of the clinic, a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit resulted in the turning over of key documentation on Operation Front Line which, when analyzed, showed systematic discrimination in immigration raids targeting Muslim immigrants.
According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Operation Frontline was designed to “detect, deter and disrupt terror operations” among immigrants during the months leading up to the Presidential elections of 2004. An analysis of data obtained from DHS, through the clinic’s lawsuit, demonstrated that an astounding 79 percent of the targets investigated were immigrants from Muslim-majority countries. This policy was exposed by the numbers, despite numerous reassurances from DHS asserting that racial, ethnic and religious criteria were not the basis of its investigations.
Armed with the data and analysis prepared by the clinic, ADC has since asked the Department of Homeland Security Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties for an investigation into Operation Frontline and the blatant religious targeting that took place in 2004 and 2005.
Accepting the award on behalf of the clinic are Professors Hope Metcalf and Mike Wishnie who spearheaded the project along with an outstanding team of Yale law students.
ADC National Executive Director Kareem Shora said “We are delighted to continue our partnership and work with Mike, Hope, and their great team of law students at Yale. This award represents a small token of our appreciation for their great efforts in protecting civil and human rights. The Lowenstein Human Rights Clinic’s success in the Operation Frontline case is a solid-example of the exposed abuses we’ve seen targeting the Arab, Muslim and South Asian communities. While it is clear that we, as a nation, still face many challenges, the efforts at Yale Law in bringing these injustices to light are the first steps toward demanding accountability from our government.”
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: Professor Mike Wishnie and Professor Hope Metcalf
1) Michael Wishnie is a Clinical Professor of Law at Yale Law School. He was Professor of Clinical Law and co-director of the Arthur Garfield Hays Civil Liberties Program at New York University School of Law. He has served as a Skadden Fellow, representing New York City taxi drivers, garment, construction, restaurant and domestic workers in their efforts to vindicate basic labor and employment rights. Previously, Professor Wishnie worked as a staff attorney at the Brooklyn Neighborhood Office of The Legal Aid Society, and as a law clerk to Judge H. Lee Sarokin, Justice Harry A. Blackmun, and Justice Stephen G. Breyer. Before earning his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1993, Professor Wishnie spent two years teaching in the People’s Republic of China.
2) Hope Metcalf is an Associate Research Scholar in Law and Robert M. Cover Clinical Teaching Fellow at Yale Law School. After graduating from New York University Law School in 2001 and clerking for the New Jersey Supreme Court, Metcalf practiced commercial litigation and white collar criminal defense at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP and Wiggin and Dana LLP. While in private practice, Metcalf maintained a vigorous pro bono practice, including, in recent years, numerous projects with the National Litigation Project (NLP). Metcalf has been a clinical instructor in the NLP’s clinic since 2005.