Decalogue joined our colleagues from the Arab American Bar Association and the Muslim Bar Association in condemning President Trump’s immigration ban as irrational, discriminatory and unconstitutional, and his disparagement of a federal judge as an attack on the separation of powers. “No one is bigger; no president, nobody, is bigger than the Constitution of the United States,” declared Judge (ret.) William Haddad of the Arab American Bar Association.
Representatives of other bar associations and an array of Muslim and Arab American community and professional organizations also participated.
Statement by Decalogue President Curtis Ross:
I am Curtis Ross, the President of the Decalogue Society of Lawyers. We are honored to co-sponsor this press conference in support of Civil Rights and the Rule of Law.
Part of the Decalogue Constitution provides that we shall “Maintain Vigilance against Public and private practices which are Anti-Social, Discriminatory, Anti-Semitic or Oppressive and Join with Other Groups and Minorities to Protect legal rights and privileges.” That is exactly what we are all doing here today.
As Jews, we are particularly mindful of U.S. governmental actions taken against particular minorities. During the 1930s Jews were often rejected for immigration based upon quotas in favor or those from certain countries and also based upon economic hardship issues. Americans in the 1930s were extremely concerned with the Depression and the economic impact of immigrants. We can see parallels with our most recent Presidential election. At the same time, the United States and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt were concerned that the Nazis were sending spies and saboteurs to the U.S. Jews were considered more likely to be spies as the Nazis even though there were no facts to back up this theory. It was not until Secretary of the Treasury Robert Morgenthau, Jr. and his staff pressured President Roosevelt in January of 1944 with proof that the U.S. State Department had delayed even modest measures for rescue and relief, that U.S. policy began to change.
At times our immigration laws have excluded all Chinese, almost all Japanese, almost all Asians and Africans. It has only been since the Immigration & Nationality Act of 1965 that all discrimination against immigrants on the basis of national origin that the prior national origin based quota system was abolished under President Lyndon Johnson.
It is only through the Rule of Law that Civil Rights will be enforced. Lawyers and Courts must stand up to partisan political interests and movements and each group must support the other whenever someone else’s rights are impaired.
See media coverage at
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2017/02/06/chicago-attorneys-team-up-to-fight-trump-travel-ban/
http://wgntv.com/2017/02/06/chicago-muslim-and-arab-american-organizations-speak-out-against-trump-travel-ban/