University of Michigan Law School University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository Res Gestae Law School History and Publications 1997 Vol. 48, No. 3, October 3, 1997 University of Michigan Law School Follow this and additional works at: http://repository.law.umich.edu/res_gestae Part of the Legal Education Commons Recommended Citation University of Michigan Law School, "Vol. 48, No. 3, October 3, 1997" (1997). Res Gestae. Paper 192. http://repository.law.umich.edu/res_gestae/192 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law School History and Publications at University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Res Gestae by an authorized administrator of University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. v r Vol. 48 No.3 THE UNIVERSITI oF MICHIGAN LAw ScHOOL October 3, 1997 TECH WARS Law School Computer Lab to move closer to the 21st Century By Josh Turner RG Contributing Editor Anyone who has used the computer resources in Room 200 knows that there is a problem both with the quantity and quality of machines available for student use at the Law School. This situation has existed for some time now, but it has been · exacerbated by recent developments both in the general fieldof law and at the MLS Former civil rights activist and FBI target Frank Wilkinson warns students of the specifically. Fortunately, it appears that a threat to personal liberties posed by unbounded federal investigatory power. short-term solution is in the works, and that students can expect to see the addi­ tion of twenty-five new, moderncomput­ THE FBI v. THE I ST AMENDMENT ers in the lab by the end of the semester. Earlier this year, two events com­ bined to put a new strain on the MLScom­ By Chris Newman curity." puter lab. The first was the decision by Spedal to the RG Telling his story in episodic anec­ the Office of Career Services to put the America has ambivalent feelings dotes, Mr.Wilkinson did not come across updated employer interview schedule on about the FBI. Movies like Mississippi as a dangerous subversive. As the FBI the World Wide Web; the second was a Burning and Silence of the Lambs depict admitted in 1974, he does not exhibit "the new policy which moved publication of the feds as supercops in white hats, charg­ willingness or capability of engaging in the Docket frompaper to e-mail. Both of ing in to protect us when the local law acts which would significantly interfere these decisions were motivated by the enforcement is either too bigoted or too with or be a threat to the survival and ef­ desire to speed up student access to these parochial to get the job done. These are fective operation of our national govern­ documents, and to reduce the amount of good stories, but they are complemented ment." While Wilkinson wryly takes is­ paper waste generated by the MLS.How- by other, darker ones. sue with the part about "capability," his Ranging from the harassment of civil voice resonates with undimmed incredu­ see TECH WARS, page 4 rights activists to Vicki Weaver's death lity as he tells about the 132,000 pages of by sniper fire, these other stories have data the FBI gathered about him over the infra managed to create agreement among course of nearly four decades of surveil­ people of vastly differing ideologies on lance. Larry kills his parakeet p.3 one thing: that the FBI is an organiza­ This man who came to be listed on Vending machine tion with a dangerous lack of respect for ADEX-the FBI's list of individuals to alternatives p.4 the rights of the people it is supposed to be interned in case of an "Internal Secu­ be protecting. rity Emergency"-had started out as head Eric Fuller gets a warm In his September 29 talk hosted by of that inveterate hot-bed of radicalism, fuzzy and free pitcher p.S the National Lawyers Guild, Frank the Beverly Hills High chapter of "Youth Go see a flick p.6 Wilkinson provided vivid testimony as to for Herbert Hoover." It was a different the threat to constitutional liberties posed Hoover who was to loom large in Blanks fails to turn in when vast resources for investigation and Wilkinson's life, however. He first made his article p.9 coercion are placed in the hands of a cen­ J. Edgar's list of security risks in the 40's, tral agency and then shielded from pub­ when his work promoting integrated pub- B&B eavesdrop in lic scrutiny by doctrines of "national se- Room 200 P· 11 see WILKINSON, page 2 I 2 The Res Gestae • October 3, I997 WILKINSON litical memoir, Wilkinson believes that the subjected to a $50,000 fine and 10 years operation was to have been supervised by in jail for making a monetary contribu­ continued fromp. 1 future LAPD chief Daryl Gates. This is tion to an organization the governmenthas lie housing gained national attention. the penalty he nearly paid for exercising designated as "terrorist." Thisis trueeven When he was called before California's his First Amendment right to peaceably if the contribution is wholly humanitar­ "little HUAC" committee in 1952 and espouse his political beliefs. ian, as in the case oflrish-Americans sup­ asked to name every organization he had Nor is Wilkinson alone. A million porting orphanages for children of de­ belonged to since 1931, he refused and Americans were under surveillance dur­ ceased IRA members. was removed from his job with the L.A. ing Hoover's reign, with no evidence of The list of "terrorist organizations" Housing Authority. criminal activity. According to Wilkinson, also makes interesting reading­ After this, Wilkinson became one of 50 % of the FBI budget was used for po­ Wilkinson's personal favorite entry is that the leaders of a national effort to abolish litical rather than criminal investigations. well-known murderous cabal, the Balti­ HUAC, and was finally jailed when he He also recounted the testimony of an FBI more-based Sisters of Mercy. chose as a matter of principle to base his operative who estimated that his trainees Legally present non-citizens can, if refusal to answer questions on the First had committed 25, 000 burglaries without accused under this bill, be detained with­ Amendment rather than the Fifth. Years being caught. Though President Ford is­ out bail and denied the right to cross-ex­ later, Wilkinson was to discover through sued guidelines intended to curb FBI vio­ amine witnesses. Why, Wilkinson wants FOIA requests that the chief witness used lation of civil liberties, these were super­ to know, with all we know about the FBI's against him had been designated in an seded under Reagan by guidelines whose past, with Waco and Ruby Ridge in re­ internal FBI document as an "emotion­ contents remain classified. cent memory, is Congress giving the FBI ally unstable and unreliable" witness. Today the hunt for communists has 400 million dollars to enforce this bill Even more disturbing was the revela­ been replaced by the hunt for terrorists. without requiring any additional training? tion that there had been an FBI plan to Wilkinson outlined some of the provisions Why did Clinton, after initially endors­ assassinate him. Though the plot had of the recent Anti-Terrorism and Effec­ ing it, kill a bill that would have prohib­ taken place 19 years before, the govern­ tive Death Penalty Act, which gives the ited investigation of First Amendment ment insisted that "national security" FBI additional power to prosecute people activities without evidence of criminal made it impossible to reveal the details. for engaging in activities protected by the activity? Based on information published in a po- First Amendment. U.S. citizens can be Good questions, indeed. •• Advocates for -Basic Le­ gal Equality, Inc. (ABLE) is a non-profit law firm which provides free high quality legal assistance in civil matters to help eli­ [IRRICK, HERRINGTON gible low-income individu­ & SUTCLIFFE LLP als and groups in our community achieve equal opportunity, self-reliance, The New York office and equality. will be visiting ABLE will be interviewing at the Univer­ the University of Michigan sity of Michigan Law School on October on 17th, seeking applicants for 1998 Sum­ Monday, October 20, 1997 mer Law Clerk positions with its Migrant Farmworker Program. Law Clerks will as­ to conduct interviews sist attorneys and paralegals in represent­ with ing farmworkers in Northwest Ohio second and third year through outreach to labor camps, assis­ tance with wage, housing, and benefit students. problems, investigation, and research. Fluency in Spanish is highly preferred. ABLE is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Tb.e Res Gestae • October 3, 1997 3 I of various "experts" commenting on volved in the planning of an iiiegal act, Marv's fiancee, who remained at his side or engaged in any iiiegal act, however, he throughout the ordeal. E.g., an anthro­ did encourage people to register to vote. pologist commented that the "Darwinian Not to bother with such details, Lennon explanation for this-women are ex­ was ordered deported. On the advice of tremely interested in a man's resources, his lawyers, to improve his chances to and a man is interested in who rears their avoid deportation, he ceased his anti-war babies." And what was that exact cite to activities. By LarrySager, THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES? Of course, some While spying on Lennon, the FBI RG Contributing Editor good self-defense advice for women here: reported that Yoko Ono "can't even re­ in case of an assault, pull off your main on key, " and that John's songs were "It's all fun and games until some­ attacker's toupee.