our speaker today as steve zack, president of the american bar association, who is talking about threats to the american justice system caused by under- funding of our courts, and i might say as well, under- appreciation of our courts. with that in mind, i have made a selection of the questions. let me start with this, if i may. what can regular citizens, ordinary citizens, do to strengthen and uphold the u.s. justice system? >> i think maybe that is the seminal question as to why we are gathered here today and why we are talking about this issue. lawyers alone will never accomplish that. judges have the worst. they're not supposed to be out there asking for money for other court systems. the average citizen has to demand the attention of the courts. sandra day o'connor has one of the best statement. in every society, there have to be a safe place. in a democracy, that is a place that is the courts. we have to have the average citizen talking about how they want to preserve that save space in our society and talk to their legislatures, because there is a view among legislators, not all o

it is my pleasure to introduce our very special guest, stephen zack, president of the american bar association. with nearly 400,000 members, it is the largest volunteer professional membership organization in the world. mr. zack is the first hispanic american to serve as the president and the second to be born abroad. he was only 14 when his family emigrated from cuba under harrowing circumstances, including last minute detention by the secret police. he made it here. in two lines -- and two lines come to mind when i think of him. "this is my country, land of my choice. this is my country, here i found voice." what a voice it is. he earned his aba at the university of florida and he is now in their hall of fame. he is a partner in the miami office of the national law firm. his clients range from former vice president al gore to philip morris, to the national geographic society, and he is listed in the 2011 edition of the best lawyers in america. his cross-examination of an expert witness in bush vs. gore made the front page of "the new york times." he has a framed in his office. he was the you

by the way, before i get to that, in vietnam, i recently met with the president of their bar association, similar to the american bar. in most countries, they have a government bar association that is part of the government, in effect. then they just have an non-club federated are. the person was a 70-year-old viet cong that was the chair. one of the most interesting conversations i ever had. someone who did not told anyanger, -- not hold any anger, but wanted information and help from america. the american bar association has one of the best legal libraries in the world. coaching and has said -- has built a law school that has no books. we're working with those countries to provide them with legal materials because they have been asking. they also ask for lawyers to help them with their loss students -- loss students -- law students. we have reached out to see if we can do some exchange program. what i tell them not to do, i think that they ought to not -- the same thing i said earlier. they ought to try to find the separation of funding issues that the government needs to make it not a political system. they n

our thanks to steven zack, president of the american bar association. we also thank our audience is here and on radio television and the internet. tonight's program has been part of the commonwealth club's u.s. constitution in the 21st century series, underwritten by the charles guess he family, and we thank them, and we thank you. [applause] >> good morning, and thank you for joining us. i am the director of the mayor's office -- and i am here to mark a milestone in this neighborhood, one that is about revenue. this will support and enliven the neighborhood, and allow me to stop driving to shop at target. the speakers are mayor ed lee, donna eagen of target, and the director of the sentences to redevelopment agency. we will have a ceremonial groundbreaking in this room. i would like to talk about the following individuals. the city college board of trustees, natalie burke. since assuming office in january, growing the economy has been a priority. and as we saw, he delivered. without further ado of like to mention -- i would like to introduce the mayor.

franken, ken, congressman bobby scott, many members of the congressional black caucus, the american bar association, families against mandatory minimums, and many, many other advocacy groups. for over 15 years, the commission has advocated that congress should reduce the crack penalties. a broad bipartisan coalition in congress read by senator dick durbin of illinois and senator jeff sessions of alabama work to pass a new law in the senate and representatives scott and conyers it took the lead to get the new law passed under suspension of the rules in the house. of course, not all prisoners will be entitled to this reduction. why? first, prisoners whose initial sentencing was below the equivalent of the new guideline range will not be entitled to any further reduction unless they get substantial assistance. the commission estimates that over 750 prisoners already received reductions below the proposed new guideline range. second, career offenders, people who already have a very serious criminal record, will not generally get the reduction. third, as earlier stated, many prisoners will be bound by s

the american bar association standing committee on the federal judiciary has given mr. engelmayer a unanimous, well-qualified rating. i support this nomination and congratulate him on his professional accomplishments. a few words on judge manglona. she received her bachelor's of arts degree from the university of california-berkeley, 1990. in 1996, she graduated from the university of new mexico law school. following law school, the nominee clerked for the superior court of the commonwealth of north mariana islands. she then worked in the attorney general's office, and in 2002, the governor appointed her attorney general for northern mariana islands. in 2003, she was appointed to serve as an associate judge for the northern mariana islands superior court. during her time on the superior court, she had also served as judge pro tempore for the guam superior court and the guam supreme court. the american bar association's standing committee on the federal judiciary has rated judge manglona unanimously qualified. i also support this nomination and congratulate her on her pr

there's actually been some discussion at the american bar association, i participated in a task force that said let's talk about what the role of lobbyist should be when it comes to campaign finance, should they be able to be budders, should the contributions to be lobbyists be lower than for other individuals. this is not because lobbyists are bad, lobbyists are a healthy part of the system but it is recognizing that they are paid professionals, i am a paid professional to go up and try and influence the outcome of policies, decisions that are being made in the halls of congress. and it is at this point continues to be a somewhat uncomfortable and i think not particularly constructive aspect of our system, whether at the presidential level or the congressional level, that lobbyists can wield such power. not necessarily by what they give themselves but by their ability to organize money from their clients and from the interests that they represent. >> host: beth from schenectady, new york is next. >> caller: i think that's one of the problems and she just said she's a lobbyists. these

he's been active in the american bar association in regard to professional responsibility. he's also served as special counsel in the department of defense along with many other contributions to the legal profession and to the country. he has been selected as the best lawyer in washington, d.c., in 2009 in ethics and professional responsibility. and right now in california he's a commissioner of the fair political practices commission which is that state's political watchdog. so to kick off our scholars, let me introduce to you ron rotunda. >> thank you. [applause] >> thank you very much, ed. i wished my mother-in-law were here to hear this. anyway, the -- i remember chief justice rehnquist was asked by a reporter once, you have all these big cases at the end of the term. this is a true story. why don't you spread them out more evenly so we can cover them? and he said, why don't you spread out the reporting more evenly? because we have to do it all at once. we have an opportunity now that we have the chance to read the cases for both the press and the professors to comment.

he's been active in the american bar association in regard to professional response ability. he's also served as a special counsel in the department of defense along with many other contributions to the legal profession into the country country. .. reporter once said you have these big case of the end of the truman, true story, why don't you spread them out more evenly so we can cover them? and he said why don't you spread out the reporting more evenly? the process we have an opportunity we've had a chance to read the cases for both the press and the professors to comment. i want to start off with a bankruptcy case, stir in the marshall. marshall, pierce marshall, the son of the old mr. marshall, 90-years-old who married 50 also known as anna nicole smith. i think it's kind of -- chief justice robert starts of the case by quoting, referring to it, and i'd actually written an article about this case and the chief had a chance to cite but sadly, he did not. this is really a very important civil liberties case is even with a bankruptcy case it has to do with jurisdiction. the pie

he has been inducted in the american motorcycle association's hall of fame and won dozens of medals and trophies over the years. look closely, you will see this bike is a baryears ago the unthinkable happened. and he was paralyzed. >> when i hit the wall between the bike, you know, i was stuck between the bike, you know, it was the end. it was the end for me. it was all over. >> henry's love affair with racing began when he was 4. at 15 he entered his first race, had a midair collision and broke his arm. after turning pro at the age of 20 he had another bad accident and broke his back for the first time, but he recovered. two years later he was back on the track. there were more injuries. over 200 serious crashes, but he always walked away. until march 4th, 2007. he lost control on a corner during practice. >> i knew it was over. i just -- everything. just dancing. i wasn't much of a dancer. but i knew i wasn't going to be. i thought about all the things that we couldn't do or wouldn't be able to do together. >> it got worse. two weeks later his wife stacy was diagnosed with breast cancer. together they got through it. henry is partially paralyzed from the

been inducted into the american motorcycle association's hall of fame and won dozens of metals and trophies over the years. look closely, you'll see this bike is modified with a barat's because four years ago the unthinkable happened. and he was paralyzed. >> when i hit the wall between the bike, you know, i was stuck between the bike, you know, it was the end. it was the end for me. it was all over. >> henry's love affair with racing began when he was 4. at 15 he entered his first race, had a midair collision and broke his arm. after turning pro at the age of 20 he had another bad accident and broke his back for the first time, but he recovered. two years later he was back on the track. there were more injuries. over 200 serious crashes, but he always walked away. until march 4th, 2007. he lost control on a corner during practice. >> i knew it was over. i just -- everything. just dancing. i wasn't much of a dancer. but i knew i wasn't going to be. i thought about all the things that we couldn't do or wouldn't be able to do together. >> it got worse. two weeks later his wife stacy was diagnosed with breast cancer. together they got through it. henry is partially

senators leahy, durbin, frank income as soon, many members of the congressional black caucus, american bar association and mandatory in many, many other advocacy groups. for over 15 years, the commission has advocated that congress should reduce the crack penalties to rectify the fundamental unfairness of punishing crack cocaine 100 times more seriously than powder. a broad bipartisan coalition in congress led by senator dick durbin of illinois and senator jeff sessions of alabama were to pass the new law in the senate and representative scott and conyers took the lead to get the new laws passed under suspension of the rules in the house. of course not all prisoners will be entitled to this reduction. why? pers prisoners at the initial sentencing reseda departure below the equivalent of the guideline range will not be entitled to further reductions unless they receive departures for the financial assistance. they finance data, the commission estimates over 750 prisoners already received reductions below the proposed guideline range as a result of these departures and very these. i can't come up for of

been inducted into the american motorcycle association's hall of fame and won dozens of medals and trophies over the years. but look closely, you'll see this bike is modified with a bart help him stay on. that's because four years ago, the unthinkable happened. and he was paralyzed. >> when i hit the wall, between the bike, i was stuck between the bike, you know, it was the end. it was the end for me. it was all over. >> reporter: henry's love affair with racing began when he was 4. at 15, he entered his first race, had a mid tear collision and broke his arm. at the age of 20, henry had another bad accident and broke his back for the first time. but he recovered. two years later, he was back on the track. there were more injuries, over 200 serious crashes, but he always walked away. until march 4, 2007. he lost control on a corner, during practice. >> i knew it was over. i just -- everything, just -- dancing, i wasn't much of a dancer. but i knew i wasn't gonna be. >> i thought of all the things we couldn't do, or wouldn't be able to do together. >> reporter: it got worse, two weeks later, his wife stacy was diagnosed with breast cancer. but they got through it toget

been in-ductsed in to the american motorcycle association hall of fame and won dozens of medals and trophies over the years. look closely. you'll see this bike is modified with a bar stay on. that's because four years ago, the unthinkable happened and he was paralyzed. >> when i hit the wall, i was stuck between the bike, it was the end. it was it the end for me. it was all the over. >> henry's love affair with racing began when he was four. at 15, he entered his first race. had a mitt midair collision ande his arm. at 20, blhe broke his back but recovered. four more injuries, over 200 serious crash, but he always walked away. until march 4th, 2007. he lost control on a corner during practice. >> i knew it was over. everything just -- dancing. i wasn't much of a dancer. but i knew i wasn't going to. i thought about all the things that we couldn't do or wouldn't be able to do together. >> it got worse. two weeks hater, his wife, stacey, was diagnosed with breast cancer. but together, they got through it. henry is partially paralyzed from the waste down, but it hasn't stopped him from competing. he's modified a snowmobile and dirt bike to race in x game competitions

as more and more countries around the world were able to write democratic constitutions and develop democratic governments. he has been active in american bar association in regard to professional responsibility. he has also served as a special counsel in the department of defense along with many other contributions to the legal profession and to the country. he has been selected as the best lawyer in washington, d.c. in 2009 in ethics and professional responsibility. and right now he in california he is a commissioner of the fair political practices commission which is that state's political watch dog. so to kick off our scholars, let me introduce to you ron. [applause] >> thank you very much. i wish my mother in-law were here to hear this. anyway, i remember chief justice rehnquist was asked by a reporter once, you have all these big cases at the end of the term. true story. why don't you spread them out more evenly so we could cover them. and he said why don't you spread out your reporting more evenly? we have an opportunity now that we have all had a chance to read the cases for both the press and the professors to comment. i want to start ah with

he's been inducted into the american motorcycle association's hall of fame and won $s of medal and trophies over the years. look closely. you'll see this bike is modified with a bar four years ago, the unthinkable happened. and he was paralyzed. >> when i hit the wall between the bike, you know, i was stuck between the bike. you know, it was the end. it was the end for me. it was all over. >> reporter: henry's love affair with racing began when i was 4. at 15, he entered his first race. had a mid air collision and broke his arm. after turning pro at the age of 20, henry had another bad accident and broke his back for the first time. but he recovered. two years later, he was back on the track. there were more injuries. over 200 certifies crashes, but he always walked away, until march 4th, 2007. he lost control on a corner during practice. >> i knew it was over. i just -- everything. just -- dancing. i wasn't much of a dancer! but i knew i wasn't going to be. i thought about all of the things that we couldn't do or wouldn't be able to do together. >> reporter: it got worse. two weeks later, his wife stacy was diagnosed with breast cancer but, together, they got th