When the Georgia House and Senate passed the “Religious Freedom Bill” in April, NAFUSA member Joe Whitely wrote a letter to Gov. Nathan Deal urging a veto, stating that the bill would allow “a broad range of discrimination that will likely meet with many costly legal challenges.” He told the governor that the bill “does nothing of substance to protect religious liberty and expression that is not already protected by the U.S. Constitution.”
Whitely had performed an analysis of the bill on behalf of Georgia Equality, a group that supports lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights. Whitely told the governor that the bill “seems intended to send a message to LGBT Georgians, among others, that they are second-class citizens.”
The First Amendment already protects all Americans’ rights to speech, to worship freely, and to be free from a state-established creed, and the United States already has a robust tradition and body of law protecting free expression,” he said. “It is difficult for me to imagine any form of religious expression that is not already protected by the First Amendment or federal statutory law.
A veto, Whitley said, “is the right and courageous thing to do.” A short time later, Gov. Deal did veto the bill.
Click here to read Whitley letter to Gov. Deal. Whitley also sent a similar letter to the Speaker of the Georgia House.
NAFUSA President Greg Vega has known United States District Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel since the ninth grade and was the best man at Judge Curiel’s wedding. So when The New York Times researched the judges life, Vega was a natural interview.
Judge Curiel is the presiding judge in the lawsuit filed by former students of Trump University. Trump, upset with some of the court’s rulings, has made public comments critical of the judge, saying the judge “happens to be, we believe, Mexican” and suggesting the judge is biased because of Trump’s calls to build a wall to keep illegal immigrants from coming into the U.S. through Mexico.
Judge Curiel was born in Indiana, to parents who immigrated from Mexico. Vega, who father also was Mexican, is also from Indiana. They worked together when Judge Curiel served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of California where Vega became the U.S. Attorney. Judge Curiel had a reputation as a “hard-charging prosecutor” in fighting Mexican drug lords. When a plot was exposed in which the Mexican drug cartel planned to assassinate Curiel, he spent much of a year in hiding under the protection of U.S. marshals. When Vega was asked by The Times how the judge is handling the “unfriendly glare of the Trump case, Vega replied, “He’s cool. I don’t think he’s giving it a second thought.”
Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel
Click here to read the NYT article “Judge Faulted by Trump Has Faced a Lot Worse”
Vega was also interviewed on NPR by Nina Totenberg. Listen here.
BakerHostetler announced that Steven M. Dettelbach, the former United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, rejoined the firm on February 15, in its Cleveland office as a Partner in the Litigation Group and co-leader of the firm’s national White Collar Defense and Corporate Investigations team. Dettelbach is also one of NAFUSA’s newest members. He will be in BakerHostetler’s Cleveland and Washington, D.C. offices, following his years of public service in the capital with the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Department of Justice as a prosecutor and more recently a high-ranking participant from the Northern District in many of the Department’s national initiatives. Dettelbach has served as U.S. Attorney for nearly seven years and is well known for his work in the areas of cyber security, corruption, and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Dettelbach had been a partner at BakerHostetler from 2006 until 2009 when he was nominated as U.S. Attorney by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the United States Senate.
Last week there was a gathering at Safeco Field in Seattle to celebrate that the Mariners are still in Seattle. NAFUSA Foundation President Mike McKay was in the thick of it. At the luncheon, the Mariners honored former U.S. Senator Slade Gorton, the man who put together the public-private, international coalition that saved the team from leaving town 25 years ago. McKay wrote an Op-Ed about the event, published in the May 11, 2016, The Seattle Times, The unlikely champion who saved the Seattle Mariners.
McKay is a member of McKay Chadwell, and is chair of the Slade Gorton International Policy Center Advisory Committee and the former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington under President George H.W. Bush. He is also a past president of NAFUSA.
Effective May 1, 2016, NAFUSA member Eileen O’Connor moved her practice from Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, to her own office, Law Office of Eileen J. O’Connor, PLLC. Solely, or in collaboration or consultation with other attorneys, O’Connor advises on, and represents clients in connection with, civil and criminal federal tax disputes, from administrative investigations through trial and appellate proceedings. She formulates and advises on regulatory and legislative solutions to disputes with government agencies. In addition to designing winning trial strategies and appellate arguments, she has presented oral arguments in the United States Supreme Court and in United States Courts of Appeals, and has testified at numerous committee hearings in United States Senate and House of Representatives on issues relating to tax administration and enforcement.
In addition to her recent move, with co-counsel, she filed amicus briefs supporting challenges to HHS’s imposition of its contraceptive mandate on religious employers. Those briefs include an amicus brief in support of the petition, and then on the merits, in the case of the Little Sisters of the Poor, and in support of a petition for rehearing en banc in the 11th Circuit in the case of EWTN v. Burwell. In his response to a question during rebuttal at oral argument in the Little Sisters case, Paul Clement cited her brief.
NAFUSA’s newest member, Booth Goodwin, former United States Attorney in the Southern District of West Virginia, has returned to private practice at the law firm of Goodwin & Goodwin, LLP in Charleston, West Virginia. Goodwin’s work as United States Attorney was featured and praised by The New York Times, 60 Minutes and other national and state media for his successful prosecutions in public and corporate corruption cases, most particularly for holding individual corporate officers accountable for criminal activity. Goodwin is most known for his office’s investigation into the 2010 Upper Big Branch (UBB) mine disaster. The UBB investigation resulted in the conviction of five individuals and a $220 million agreement with the successor to Massey Energy Company which owned the UBB mine at the time of the disaster. One of the individuals, former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship, was convicted in December 2015 after a two-month trial of conspiring to willfully violate mine safety laws. Blankenship is currently serving a federal prison sentence.
Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch announced on May 18, 2016, the appointments of Peter F. Neronha, U.S. Attorney for the District of Rhode Island, and John Huber, U.S. Attorney for the District of Utah, to the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee (AGAC), effective immediately.
Peter Neronha
U.S. Attorney Neronha was nominated by President Barack Obama on July 31, 2009, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Sept. 15, 2009, as the U.S. Attorney for the District of Rhode Island. In 2002, Neronha joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Rhode Island. As an Assistant U.S. Attorney, he prosecuted criminal cases involving political corruption, white collar crime, drug and firearm offenses. When he joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office, he was named coordinator of the District’s Project Safe Neighborhoods, a Department of Justice initiative against gun crimes. Prior to being named U.S. Attorney, he was Chief of the District’s Organized Crime Strike Force. Neronha previously served on the AGAC during 2009-2011.
John Huber
U.S. Attorney Huber was nominated by President Barack Obama on Feb. 4, 2015, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on June 10, 2015, as U.S. Attorney for Utah. Prior to confirmation as the U.S. Attorney, Huber prosecuted a number of high profile federal cases and coordinated task forces that focused on violent crime and counter-terrorism. He also served as chief of the National Security Section in the U.S. Attorney’s Office before being asked to serve as the Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney, a member of the office’s executive management team.
On May 17, 2016, NAFUSA member Brad Pigott penned a guest column for The Clarion-Ledger Pigott: US needs criminal justice reform, in which he describes how a bipartisan group of legislators in Mississippi led the enactment of a task force recommendations aimed at refocusing resources to towards the more serious crimes. Pigott, along with several other NAFUSA members, is part of the 130 current and former law enforcement officials from around the country who have formed Law Enforcement Leaders to Reduce Crime and Incarceration.
Pigott opines,
We think it’s possible to reduce crime and incarceration at the same time. Through both experience and data, we know that reducing unnecessary arrests, prosecutions and incarceration can reduce recidivism and strengthen relationships with the communities we protect. Furthermore, we must use the limited resources available in the most efficient and effective way possible, proving to our communities we value the funding they provide to us.
Pigott served as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi 1994-2001.
General Motors Co. announced on April 27, 2016, that it has appointed NAFUSA life member Jeffrey A. Taylor as Deputy General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer, effective immediately. He will report to Craig Glidden, executive vice president and general counsel.
In his new role, Taylor will have overall responsibility for GM’s ethics and compliance program, and he will support GM’s business operations and leadership team in driving business success through an organizational culture committed to integrity, ethical conduct, workplace and vehicle safety and compliance with the law and company policies.
He will also oversee strategy, communications and training concerning GM’s code of conduct ‘Winning with Integrity’, which governs the ethical and legal obligations of GM’s Board, executives, and more than 75,000 employees around the world.
As Chief Compliance Officer, Jeff will lead a global team of attorneys and compliance professionals responsible for assessing and mitigating risk, devising and implementing compliance training and assessment, assuring the effectiveness of the compliance program, and conducting and overseeing internal and external investigations.
“Jeff is a highly accomplished attorney who has managed extremely complex legal issues,” said Glidden. “His appointment reflects GM’s commitment to the highest levels of global ethics and the strict compliance with the law and internal policies.”
Prior to joining GM in November last year as Deputy General Counsel for Federal Oversight, Taylor was vice president and general counsel of Tewksbury, Mass.-based Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems. Before that, he led a team of more than 300 professionals as chief executive of Ernst & Young’s Fraud Investigation and Dispute Services practice in the Americas.
He served as the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia from 2006 to 2009. He also served as Counselor to Attorney Generals John D. Ashcroft and Alberto R. Gonzales, and he began his career with the United States Department of Justice in 1995 as an Assistant United States Attorney.
Taylor earned his juris doctor degree from Harvard Law School. He earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Stanford University.
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