home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- THE WEEK NATION, Page 11The Bar Leans Left
-
-
- After the A.B.A. takes some liberal stances, it hears again
- from Quayle
-
-
- Historically, the American Bar Association has been a
- conservative group led by men in pinstripes and wing tips. But
- at this year's annual convention in San Francisco, the lawyers'
- group took a distinctly liberal turn. On Sunday, Hillary
- Clinton, who until 1991 chaired the A.B.A.'s commission on
- women, paid tribute to one of the profession's most recent
- female celebrities, Anita Hill. "All women who care about the
- equality of opportunity, about integrity and morality in the
- workplace, are in Professor Anita Hill's debt," said Clinton,
- a corporate lawyer. Hill received an award from the A.B.A. and
- a standing ovation from the crowd. Later in the week, the A.B.A.
- voted to fight laws that restrict a woman's right to an
- abortion; the group also allowed the National Lesbian and Gay
- Law Association to join.
-
- The A.B.A.'s tilt to the left on these issues is
- attributable partly to the increasing political clout of women.
- In the past 12 years, women have gone from 8% of the legal
- profession to 21%. Said the A.B.A.'s outgoing president, Talbot
- D'Alemberte: "The future of this profession lies largely with
- women, and women care passionately" about abortion. Predictably,
- the A.B.A.'s action displeased fellow lawyer Dan Quayle, who won
- a good deal of support last year for his more precisely targeted
- complaint about exploding legal costs. "The American Bar
- leadership," said the Vice President last week, "is just one
- more special interest group of the Democratic Party. We now know
- why Bill Clinton can never support legal reform."
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-