2022 has brought new revelations about efforts to overturn the 2020 Election and deepening culture wars over government’s role in our democracy. Amid this turmoil, ICAP serves as a grounding force in defense of constitutional rights and institutional stability.
Early in the year, working with House General Counsel Doug Letter (an ICAP alum!) and his team, ICAP achieved a resounding and historic victory at the Supreme Court on behalf of the House Select Committee investigating January 6. In Trump v. Thompson, by an 8-1 vote, the Court rejected the former president’s claims of executive privilege, allowing the National Archivist to turn over White House records relating to the attack. The win produced immediate results, as the Archives began turning over relevant documents that very night. That we secured the votes of eight justices in a case with such inherently political stakes is a testament to the continued power of strong lawyering based on facts and law.
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ICAP continued to be a critical resource for journalists looking for legal analysis about the January 6 attack and other threats of political violence. ICAP’s executive director Mary McCord spoke to PBS FRONTLINE and Propublica for their updated film, American Insurrection, and to ABC for its documentary tracing the private militia movement from the siege in Bunkerville, Nevada, to the U.S. Capitol attack. ICAP contributed to an eye-opening Reuters feature documenting the campaign of intimidation against state and local election officials, and to coverage of a PBS/Marist poll about Americans' views of January 6. ICAP supported the roll-out of a powerful report analyzing the evolution of American extremism in the wake of 1/6 by our partners at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab. And McCord provided legal commentary to CNN and other news organizations on the seditious conspiracy charges brought against members of the Oath Keepers for their role in the January 6 attack.
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Further on the litigation front, this month, a federal judge in D.C. agreed with ICAP that the Trump administration’s hostile and exclusionary diversity visa “Passport Rule” was invalid under the Administrative Procedure Act. The ruling will reignite the dream of immigration to the U.S. for those who struggle with poverty or live in places where passports are difficult or expensive to obtain. ICAP is proud to share this victory with our partners at African Communities Together.
Bringing a glimmer of hope for civil rights litigants, last month, the Supreme Court called for a response to our cert. petition in Herrera v. Cleveland, which raises an important question of civil procedure implicating access to justice. The Court’s “call for response” sends a strong signal that the justices are considering our petition seriously.
ICAP also continues to serve as a voice for bipartisan consensus around criminal justice reform. This week, we represented a group of 45 current and former prosecutors on an amicus brief in Hope v. Harris, a case involving a prisoner’s continued inhumane detention in solitary confinement for over 27 years. Drawing on the bipartisan group’s decades of law enforcement experience, ICAP argued that overuse of solitary confinement undermines the goals of the criminal justice system and impedes law enforcement. In a similar vein, ICAP led a bipartisan group of 63 current and former prosecutors, DOJ officials, and judges, in a letter calling on Attorney General Garland to scale back the Department’s use of life without parole sentences for juvenile offenders. Read NPR’s coverage of the letter here.
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On the policy front, ICAP’s work to combat political violence and unauthorized militia activity proceeds apace. We have been active in consulting with federal lawmakers considering a federal anti-militia law, which ICAP’s Mary McCord called for in a recent piece in Just Security. And as militia activity continues to spread across the country, ICAP has engaged directly to provide constitutional and historical context supporting existing state-law prohibitions on private militias. This month, for example, allies in Idaho have relied on our guidance in pushing back against efforts to repeal the state’s anti-militia law, and proponents of the repeal effort have backed off their earlier constitutional claims in the face of our arguments.
2022 has also brought staffing transitions, both exciting and sad. In January, ICAP was thrilled to welcome its new managing director, Alex Aronson, who joined us from the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he served as chief counsel to Senator Whitehouse. And on the heels of her exceptional advocacy as ICAP’s lead counsel in Trump v. Thompson, we said a fond farewell to senior counsel Annie Owens, who, in a classic game of D.C. musical chairs, took over Alex’s former position with the Judiciary Committee. Keep an eye out for Annie at a Supreme Court confirmation coming to a theater near you!
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Keep up with ICAP on Twitter via @GeorgetownICAP; and suggest what we should take on next via reachICAP@georgetown.edu.
With thanks for your continued support, The ICAP Team.
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