David Rudovsky

California Trust Act

David Rudovsky Senior Fellow, University of Pennsylvania School of Law

Legal Scholars Endorse California Trust Act

National Day Laborer Organizing Network posted a letter of "legal scholars" who endorsed California's Trust Act.

The letter read in part:

"In practice, we have seen that immigration screening programs in jail tend to increase the likelihood of racial profiling by police, a finding that is supported by the disproportionate impact the “Secure Communities” program has had on Latinos. Given these serious concerns about local enforcement of immigration detainers and the fact that such enforcement is not mandatory, California can and should adopt the sensible protections against blanket enforcement of immigration detainers that are set forth in the TRUST Act. In doing so, it will be a model for the nation as progressive policy makers and communities consider how to respond to anti-immigrant state laws (such as Arizona’s SB 1070 and its progeny) and federal programs that have similar negative consequences for civil rights, trust in law enforcement, and public safety. We urge you to sign this important legislation."

David Rudovsky was one of the signatories.

R2K Legal Collective members and supporters

In the course of defending themselves against their own criminal charges, several RNC arrestees became core members of the R2K Legal Collective, personifying the DIY ethic of legal strategy by and for those most directly affected.

They included: Jacqueline Ambrosini, Caleb Arnold, Alexis Baden-Meyer, Bill Beckler, Christopher Day, Adam Eidinger, Jamie Graham, Jessica Mammarella, Dave Onion, Laura McTighe, Carlos Muilos, Danielle Redden, George Ripley, Kate Sorensen, Ethan Spier, Camilo Viveiros, and Chris White.

Movement attorneys were an important part of the R2K Legal Collective and took direction from their dissident clients while ardently defending them against political charges. They included: Paul Hetznecker, Larry Krasner, Paul Messing, David Rudovsky, and Lester Roy Zipris, as well as public defenders Bradley Bridge, Meg Flores, and Shawn Nolan. Some attorneys-such as King Downing from New Jersey, Anastasia Pardalis and Ron McGuire from New York-came regularly to Philadelphia to help defend protesters. Marina Sitrin and Bill Beckler, recent law school graduates at the time, temporarily relocated from New York and, along with others, helped redefine the relationship between defendant and attorney. They also helped to politicize the criminal cases and make that a key element of the legal strategy.

At the heart of the R2K Legal Collective was a group of dedicated activists who did not themselves face charges but fiercely supported RNC arrestees. They included: Jill Benowitz, Kristin Bricker, Amy Dalton, Julie Davids, Jody Dodd, Bull Gervasi, Tim Groves, Christian Hansen, Lee James, Katie Krauss, Amy Kwasnicki, Eric Laursen, Bronwyn Lepore, Elena Madison and Elliott Madison, Sara Marcus, Nicole Meyenberg, Rachel Neumann, Clarissa Rogers, April Rosenblum, Matthew Ruben, Curtis Rumrill, Marlene Santoyo, Mac Scott, April Smith, David Webber, Susan Whitaker, and Lesley Wood.

a lot of the comrades who were organizing these actions were really focused on dealing with anti-globalization." Barrow and other activists felt that the best way to connect struggles in the global south with the struggles in Philadelphia was to focus on the prison industrial complex (PIC), "because you couldn't talk about racism, white supremacy, capitalism, and not talk about PIC." Philadelphia activist Amadee Braxton agreed: "The political work that has most galvanized people organizing for racial justice has been the fight against the racist criminal in-justice system."

National Conference on Government Spying

David Rudovsky was cited by Rep. Larry McDonald of Georgia in the congressional record on January 31, 1977 as being on the steering committee of the National Conference on Government Spying NCGS, which was held at Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago, on January 20-23, 1977. The NCGS was organized by the National Lawyers Guild, which, as Rep. Larry McDonald explained:

"has explicitly stated its support for revolutionary 'armed struggle' and terrorism as in the armed occupation of Wounded Knee and in violent prison riots. The NLG International Committee maintains open liaison with terrorist Marxist "liberation movements" such as the Palestine Liberation Organization. The NLG is a member of the Soviet-controlled International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL): the NLG was formed with the assistance of the Comintern in 1936 and was cited as the "foremost legal bulwark of the Communist Party, its fronts and controlled unions." The NLG now operates as a working coalition of Communist Party, U.S.A. (CPUSA members and supporters, Castroite Communists, Maoist Communists, and various New Left activists."

Steering Committee

The NCGS steering committee consisted of:

• Bob Borosage, Washington, D.C.; NLG activist; codirector of the Center for National Security Studies-CNSS; and trustee of and attorney for the Institute for Policy Studies-IPS.
• Len Cavise, Chicago; NLG.
• Paul Chevigny, New York; NLG speaker and staff attorney for the New York Civil Liberties Union; author of "Cops and Rebels" and "Police Power."
• Terry Gilbert, Cleveland.
• Bill Goodman, Detroit; president of the NLG.
• Leonard Grossman, Detroit.
• Lance Haddix, Chicago; NLG.
• Morton Halperin, Washington, D.C.; director of the joint CNSS/ ACLU Project on National Security and Civil Liberties, funded, as are many ACLU and Fund for Peace/CNSS activities, by the Field Foundation.
• David Hamlin, Chicago; Illinois Civil Liberties Union.
• Lennox Hinds, New York; National Conference of Black Lawyers-NCBL; NLG; National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression-NAARPR; and the International Association of Democratic Lawyers-IADL-controlled by the U.S.S.R.
• Robert C. Howard, Chicago; general counsel of the Better Government Association, a tax-exempt "public interest organization that addresses government misconduct through investigation, public education, and legal action."
• Val R. Klink, president of the Chicago NLG chapter, attorney for the Alliance To End Repression-AER--set up by two CPUSA fronts.
• Michael Krinsky, New York; attorney with Rabinowitz, Boudin and Standard; attorney for Cuba, the Marxist Allende government of Chile, and the Socialist Workers Party-SWP.
• Ken Lawrence, Jackson, Miss.
• Judy Meade, Washington, D.C.; CNSS.
• Matt Piers, Chicago.
• Ramona Ripston (Mrs. Henry DiSuvero) , Los Angeles; NLG; executive director, ACLU of Southern California; former codirector of the National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee, an identified CPUSA front.
• David Rudovsky, Philadelphia; NLG; staff attorney of the NECLC Philadelphia office; attorney for the Institute for Policy Studies.
• Franklin Siegel, New York; NLG national office staff.
• Howard Simon, Detroit.
• Zoharah Simmons, Philadelphia.
• Richard Soble, Detroit; NLG and Bill Goodman's law partner.
• Syd Stapleton, New York; member of the Socialist Workers Party National Committee and national secretary of the SWP's Political Rights Defense Fund PRDF-which raises money and distributes publicity about the SWP's lawsuits against the FBI and other law enforcement agencies.
• Margaret Van Houten, Washington, D.C.; formerly with the Organizing Committee for a Fifth Estate--OC-5- now coordinator of the OC-5 spinoff, the Public Education Project on the Intelligence Community-PEPIC.
• Margaret "Peggy" Winter, New York; national staff of the political rights fund.

The National Conference on Government Spying was organized from room 815, 33 North Dearborn, Chicago, Ill. 60602, 312/939-2492, with Paul Bigman as information coordinator. In addition to the NLG, those assisting with conference expenses were the ACLU and the Playboy Foundation which commissioned the conference handbook, a more than 225-page manual-$15-entitled "Pleading, Discovery and Pretrial Procedure for Litigation Against Government Spying," whose principal authors are Robert C. Howard and Kathleen M. Crowley, general counsel and staff counsel, respectively. of the Better Government Association, a plaintiff in the suit against the Chicago police intelligence unit, ACLU v. Chicago, Civ. Action 75 C 6295 <N.D. Ill., Eastern Div.) which has been consolidated with Alliance To End Repression v. Rochford, 74 C 3268.

The manual gives special acknowledgement to Robert J. Vollen, Richard M. Gutman, Constance Glass, David M. Hamlin, Lois Lipton Kraft, Margaret Winter, and Morton Halperin, and states:

We particularly want to acknowledge the continuous assistance and information exchange with the Political Rights Defense Fund (Socialist Workers Party v. Attorney General) and the Project on National Security and Civil Liberties (which is pursuing several lawsuits).