Reminded today how Oregon's "progressive" Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum did everything in her power to make this horrific decision a reality. Last year, took Louisiana's side. Argued for non-unanimous juries. This year, argued against retroactive justice. Not just. Not right.
https://twitter.com/mjs_DC/status/1394292175010242568
THREAD: 100s remain caged based on a KKK-era law to silence Black jurors. Oregon AG Ellen Rosenblum's claiming she's doing all she can. The opposite. She just helped the ultra-conservative Supreme Court block justice. It is time to set the record straight.
https://twitter.com/ScottHech/status/1392433565497966592?s=20
First, a background on the law: Most think of the KKK in terms of physical violence. Intimidation. But they also used legal & legislative process to pass laws exacting legal violence. In Oregon they pushed a law to silence jurors. "Non-unanimous juries."
In Louisiana in 1898, the KKK pushed non-unanimous juries to “establish the supremacy of the white race" & “ensure African-American juror service would be meaningless.” In 1934, Oregon joined them. At the time of the law’s passage there were *34,000+ active KKK members in Oregon. 
Impact: Black people are already less likely to be selected to be on a jury. More likely to be accused of crime. Non-unanimous juries led to disproportionate convictions. *They would have never been convicted & sent to prison anywhere else in the country.* The KKK got their way.
Current Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum was once a state judge. Presided over countless non-unanimous juries. Sentenced Terrence Hayes to 13 years in 2004. "While I was not kidnapped by white men in hoods, I was caged because of their law."usatoday.com/story/opinion/…
The impact of non-unanimous Jim Crow juries has not only been felt by those locked up because of them. Non-white jurors were demoralized. Attacked by their "peers." Shut up. Silenced. Cash Spencer: “It breaks my heart. The system is not built for me.”
Enter Calvin Duncan. Former jailhouse lawyer wrongfully imprisoned for close to 30 years. Learned about non-unanimous juries while inside. When released in 2011, he didn't relax. Filed petitions to the U.S. Supreme Court 22 times over 7 years. Denied every time. He kept fighting.
Finally in 2019, on Calvin's 23rd attempt, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case to end non-unanimous verdicts.
Most of Oregonian's significant leaders past & present joined a powerful brief asking the Supreme Court to topple this law.
*But not Oregon AG Ellen Rosenblum!*
Most of Oregonian's significant leaders past & present joined a powerful brief asking the Supreme Court to topple this law.
*But not Oregon AG Ellen Rosenblum!*
Instead of joining Oregon's most powerful leaders--bipartisan--to petition the Supreme Court to finally topple the racist stain on Oregon's past/present, *Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum joined LOUISIANA* to ask the Supreme Court to keep the racist law alive & thriving.
Fortunately, the Supreme Court didn't listen to Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum. In April 2020, the they finally acknowledged what was long obvious: This racist law was unconstitutional. Gorsuch wrote opinion. Here's Calvin Duncan celebrating on the Supreme Court steps:
Despite her fight in the Supreme Court to maintain the racist status quo, Oregon AG Ellen Rosenblum still claimed to be happy about the ruling in Ramos. Called it "important & welcomed." Now able to move past "embarrassing stain on our progressive state." But she kept fighting.
Ramos v. Louisiana only applied to future cases. Not those unlucky enough to be convicted too long before the decision. So Ellen Rosenblum fought *every single person convicted in the past from having the opportunity to have a new, fair trial.*
Then fought in the Supreme Court.
Then fought in the Supreme Court.
The case the Supreme Court just decided--Edwards v. Vannoy--was about whether a law even this ultra-conservative Supreme Court ruled was racist, should be applied (fancy legal term coming your way) "retroactively." Meaning to people still burdened by an unconstitutional law.
After Rosenblum tried to save face by hailing the Ramos decision as an important decision, she was right back in the Supreme Court, asking the ultra-Conservatives to rule just as they did today in Edwards. A big "NO" to retroactive justice. No to toppling a racist legal monument.
The result of Ellen Rosenblum fighting every single case in Oregon courts & arguing forcefully to maintain the impact of white supremacy in the Supreme Court: Not just a major loss on this one issue. A Supreme Court decision damaging to millions impacted by other issues to come.
Terrence Hayes--sentenced by the current AG Ellen Rosenblum in 2004 based on the racist KKK law to silence Black jurors--explained what is at stake in Edward, what "retroactivity" & "retroactive justice" means, better than anyone. I'll pull out quotes: usatoday.com/story/opinion/…
"When new rules are announced by the Supreme Court, they don’t automatically get applied “retroactively.” That means for all of us unlucky enough to have been victims of laws the Court deems brutal & racist before they ultimately say so we are condemned to continue to suffer."
"When the Supreme Court ruled in 2010 that immigrants are denied effective assistance of counsel when not informed of consequences of guilty pleas, countless people already deported, torn from families, convicted or otherwise locked up before the decision were denied any relief."
"When the Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that juries — not judges —were the only ones who could ultimately decide to condemn someone to death, those already on death row, facing down the end of their lives because of the whim of a single judge, received no mercy."
"And when the Supreme Court ruled in 2011 that juveniles must be specially protected against police interrogation, all those convicted as juveniles then serving time, or burdened forever by the scarlet letter of a conviction, had no second chance."
Terrence Hayes: "I am free now. However, still bound by the chains of an unconstitutional conviction. I’m also bound by trauma & guilt. Went to jail at 20. My 2 baby daughters stripped from me. Wasn’t able to be there to support them as they grew. I also was unable to grow up."
But here's the critical point: "We don’t have to rely on the Supreme Court — states have the power to provide retroactive justice." States & state leaders always have the power to provide MORE rights than the Supreme Court says.
Ellen Rosenblum can act TODAY to make this right.
Ellen Rosenblum can act TODAY to make this right.
Oregon AG Ellen Rosenblum can act. Right now. Her claim she has to follow the ultra-conservative Supreme Court for guidance on Justice in Oregon is both false & a supremely dangerous precedent to set. As Chelsea Clinton put it: State leaders can/must act:
https://twitter.com/ChelseaClinton/status/1389301572618838017?s=20
A growing chorus. Director of ACLU: Ellen Rosenblum stopped defending Oregon's same-sex marriage ban bc "she knew defending the law was wrong. Now, she should do justice by refusing to defend Oregon’s unconstitutional convictions by non-unanimous juries." portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2021/…
Human Rights Watch (@hrw) wrote AG Ellen Rosenblum a powerful letter calling her failure to use her power to allow people convicted by a racist KKK law to have a fair trial unburdened by discriminatory juries “inconsistent w/ international human rights standards." Just wow.
There is now a new coalition of over 40 organizations, including Oregon's ACLU (@ACLU_OR), calling on otherwise "progressive" Oregon AG to use stop fighting relief for hundreds still caged simply bc they were unlucky enough to get convicted too long ago.
Over 30,000 people have signed this petition, calling on Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum to use her power to stop opposing retroactive justice to hundreds still imprisoned based on a law everyone including Rosenblum acknowledges is racist. act.colorofchange.org/sign/People_st…
All Oregon advocates are asking for from Ellen Rosenblum is she stop opposing requests from hundreds still in prison. That she listen to her community, the local ACLU, Human Rights Watch, people & families directly impacted. That way, local DA's can then decide whether to retry.
These calls to action do not change because of the Supreme Court case. Fundamental to our Democracy. The Constitution (which the Supreme Court interprets) sets the FLOOR. States can always provide more rights. More critical today than ever. We are not bound by Justice Kavanaugh.
What you can do: Please watch & share this video, featuring Calvin Duncan, the former jailhouse lawyer & law student, who got the Supreme Court to strike down non-unanimous juries & say they're racist. His call for freedom rings truer today.
What you can do: Please watch & share this video, featuring Cash Spencer, a juror whose voice was silenced by a system designed to silence the opinions of Black jurors so the KKK could convict whoever they wanted to. That system is still alive today.
What you can do: Please sign/share this petition calling on Oregon Attorney General to do the only thing that is right--for her & other state leaders--and use the power she has to do her part to end systemic racism & injustice. Critical now more than ever. act.colorofchange.org/sign/People_st…
What you can do: Visit the Still in Prison Coalition website below, follow @stillinprison on Twitter, and sign up for updates. If you're a journalist, please get in touch & I'll forward you on to the right person to speak with. Stillinprison.org
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