CCNY'S INDEPENDENT
STUDENT NEWSPAPER
MAY 2000 VOLUME
2, NUMBER 5
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CCNY'S INDEPENDENT
STUDENT NEWSPAPER |
National News. . .
Ex–Black Panther
Wins Long Legal Battle
The Associated Press reports that the City of Los Angeles and the federal
Government have agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by Geronimo ji Jaga (formerly
Elmer “Geronimo” Pratt) ending the 30-year legal battle of the former Black
Panther whose murder conviction was overturned in 1997 after he had spent 27
years in prison.
Pratt was convicted in 1972 of the murder of a 27-year-old schoolteacher. He was
sentenced to 25 years to life in prison and spent nearly a third of his sentence
in solitary confinement. Pratt steadfastly maintained his innocence, insisting
that he was in Oakland for Black Panther meetings when the murder occurred and
said that the police and FBI agents hid and possibly destroyed wiretap evidence
that would prove it.
“It doesn’t prove that justice works,” said Stuart D. Hanlon, who took
Pratt’s case in 1974 and has been with it ever since. “To me, if it takes 27
years and this kind of legal struggle to get someone out, it doesn’t prove
anything about justice. But on the other hand, it’s a resolution that makes
sense and lets everybody move on with their life.”
Pratt wanted to take the case to trial to expose what he called the F.B.I.’s
“evil scheme” of opposition to the Panthers and other radical groups in the
1960’s and 1970’s and subsequent cover-ups that would have implicated
officials still serving in law enforcement.
Ultimately Pratt took the advice of his lawyers and accepted the settlement. “[Pratt’s] 52 now,” Hanlon told AP. “I think we felt it was better for him to have the money and get his life in order and move forward. He’s not a rich man, but now he’s going to have money every month.”
Court: Student Fees Are No Violation
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday, March 22 that state-run schools can subsidize campus groups with money collected from mandatory student activities fees without violating the rights of students who find some of those groups objectionable.
The Messenger covered this story back in December. At that time student organizations across the country were apprehensively awaiting the court’s decision.
In their decision, the justices unanimously upheld the University of Wisconsin’s student-fee system after finding the school does not pick and choose which student groups to fund based on the views they espouse.
“The First Amendment permits a public university to charge its students an activity fee used to fund a program to facilitate extracurricular student speech if the program is viewpoint neutral,” Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote for the court.
The amendment protects free-speech rights, and the mandatory fees had been challenged by students who said their rights were violated by forcing them to contribute to groups they oppose.
Had the justices ruled the other way, public colleges and universities across America would have had to stop giving money to controversial student groups or figure out some way to give partial refunds to those students who wanted them.
The ruling emphasized what Justice Kennedy called “the important and substantial purposes of the university, which seeks to facilitate a wide range of speech.”
The court had split 5–4 when ruling five years ago that public universities
and colleges cannot create a “public forum” for students by supplying
subsidies and then refuse to fund some groups because of their viewpoints.
UW’s student-fees system was challenged in 1996 by a coalition of conservative
groups who objected to having some of their money funneled to liberal
organizations and identified as objectionable 18 of the 125 subsidized campus
groups, including the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Center and
International Socialist Organization.
The ruling will not affect private schools because the Constitution protects us against government actions only.