Thread by @ScottHech

NEWS. A historic day. 3 years after the Supreme Court ruled non-unanimous juries unconstitutionally racist, the Oregon Supreme Court today: All those still in prison are entitled to a new trial!

This fight started w/ a jailhouse lawyer named Calvin Duncan.

A short history: Most think of the KKK in terms of physical violence. Lynchings. Intimidation. They also used legal & legislative process. In Louisiana & Oregon they pushed laws to silence Black jurors. To convict who they wanted.

"Non-unanimous juries."

Every juror’s voice is supposed to matter. In every other state in the country *every juror* has to vote that prosecution proved guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. KKK-influenced Oregon & Louisiana allowed up to 2 jurors to be disregarded & silenced.

“Minority voices.”

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.

The impact of non-unanimous Jim Crow juries wasn't only felt by those locked up because of them. Non-white jurors were demoralized. Shut down. Attacked by their "peers." Shut up. Silenced.

"I kept trying to point out there wasn't enough evidence. But instead I got attacked."

Enter Calvin Duncan. The one who would change everything. He grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana. Then moved to Portland, Oregon as a young man seeking solace & safety from the environment he group up in. But was soon after brought back to New Orleans. Falsely accused of murder.

Calvin knew he was innocent. Everyone told him he was going to be put to death. He asked folks what he could do to help himself. "Calvin, you've got to learn the law." And boy, did Calvin learn the law. Didn't help him unfortunately. Convicted. Sent to Angola prison for life.

While imprisoned on Angola Calvin stuck to the law. He became a jailhouse lawyer, paid 20 cents/hr to help other men with legal cases. His first motion was “A motion for a law book.” He had been forced to rely on newspaper clippings for his research. Calvin won his first motion.

Once Calvin got real law books, he dove even deeper into the practice of law on the inside. And while representing other men incarcerated, he first discovered the issue of non-unanimous juries. He filed petition after petition challenging them. He repeatedly lost. Didn't give up.

Calvin lost motions for a new trial based on racist non-unanimous jury verdicts for literal decades imprisoned. After *28.5 years* wrongfully imprisoned, Calvin was finally released in 2011.

What he did: Moved back to Oregon. Began as a paralegal. And got right back to work.

Calvin joined forces with attorney Ben Cohen. "If you find the cases, we'll take them all the way to the Supreme Court." Calvin worked with jailhouse lawyers in Louisiana & Oregon to find cases. Filed petitions 22 times over course of 7 years. Denied everytime. He kept fighting.

Calvin: “Every time we got denied, we brought another case."

Asked Ben Cohen if he was still up for it.

Ben: "Calvin, if you're not tired, I'm not tired."

Calvin: "I'm not ever going to get tired. Because no law should be on the books to preserve white supremacy."

Finally, on Calvin's 23rd attempt, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case. Ramos v. Louisiana. Calvin was there to watch it. And in oral argument, the majority of the Justices were appalled.

Even Justice Kavanaugh acknowledged non-unanimous juries were "rooted in racism."

Justice Sotomayor: Hamilton himself said, the right to a unanimous jury is so self-evident we don't need to include it [explicitly in the language of the U.S. Constitution."

And Justice Ginsburg (😭😭😭): "The words 'jury trial' themselves mean unanimous verdict."

IT HAPPENED. In April 2020, the Supreme Court finally acknowledged what was long obvious: This racist law was unconstitutional. "I was happy for my friends & the people I left in prison. The reason for them being in for all those years, our Supreme Court has said it was wrong.”

The Supreme Court decision was a win. But only applies to future cases. Not those unlucky enough to be convicted too long before the decision.

There was one person w/ power to provide justice to all those still in prison on a racist law. Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum.

Yet Oregon AG Ellen Rosenblum—the person w/ power to do right—was a fierce opponent of justice for those convicted by KKK juries. First as a judge. Then Rosenblum joined LOUISIANA* to ask the Supreme Court to keep the racist law alive & thriving. But she wasn’t done fighting.

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.

Stated, that Oregon would finally be able to move past "embarrassing stain on our progressive state."

But she kept fighting.

After Ramos v. Louisiana was decided,
Ellen Rosenblum fought *every person convicted in the past from having the opportunity to have a new trial.*

Then back to Supreme Court to fight against making decision retroactive. Including for those she sentenced:usatoday.com/story/opinion/…

One year after Ramos was decided, in May 2021 Ellen Rosenblum won in the Supreme Court to BLOCK any relief for those still imprisoned in her state by a law even the ultra-conservative Supreme Court ruled was “rooted in racism.”

One of the worst decisions in Supreme Court history

The result of Ellen Rosenblum fighting every single case in court & arguing 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.

Calvin wasn’t done

In partnership with the Ramos Project & civil rights lawyer Aliza Kaplan, Calvin helped build a coalition of over 40 organizations to demand justice for those still imprisoned in Oregon based on a the KKK law.

Launched a powerful storytelling campaign: stillinprison.org

Oregon AG Ellen Rosenblum remained unmoved. Penned one of the most dangerous opeds I've ever read. In response to local demands to right a racist law shes admitted is racist, argued she must "uphold & enforce the law as it stands."

Then passed the buck to the Oregon legislature.

Ellen Rosenblum was not obligated to uphold & enforce racist laws. Prosecutors & leaders use their discretion *all the time* to depart. Rosenblum refused to defend Oregon's ban on same-sex marriage when given the opportunity.

She then passed the buck to Oregon courts.

The Oregon Supreme Court took up the case this past year. The entire time briefing was going on, then the arguments, then the last half year of waiting on a decision, all I could think about was those hundreds still in prison.

And then today, they ruled. And they ruled right.

The Oregon Supreme Court recognized the fundamental importance of the right to a unanimous jury. Not just for accuracy & certainty. But to ensure *the absence of bias.*

The Oregon Supreme Court recognized that the importance of unanimity in jury verdicts to protect against bias was especially critical in Oregon given the work since the turn of the 20th century of the KKK to convict whoever they wanted.

“That concern is not merely rhetorical.”

One of the most powerful parts of the Oregon Supreme Court’s decision to allow all those still imprisoned by a KKK law a new, fair trial, is the concurrence by Judge Baldwin, which delves even more deeply into “that troubled aspect of our history lest we repeat it.”

Today is a happy day. But I’m very mindful of not wanting to let “progressive” Oregon AG Ellen Rosenblum off the hook for her — far more than inaction — affirmative act of racist violence to fight against the most obvious justice in every way she could.

Imagine having the power to right systemic racism. Imagine knowing & acknowledging a law you control was racist in origin. Then imagine instead of using your power to right this systemic racism, you instead use your power to defend it. And argue you're just following orders.

Ellen Rosenblum will no doubt come out and publicly praise this decision by the Oregon Supreme Court. Make some grandiose statement about “righting historic wrongs.”

I just want the world to know that she waged a decades long war — first as judge them AG—to defend these wrongs.

I’m going to end this thread where I started though. With Gratitude. To all the amazing advocates and lawyers and people directly impacted and organizations who helped make this win possible. Starting with my friend & colleague, Calvin Duncan. Thank you.

Gratitude to Cash Spencer. An Oregon juror. Only Black person other than defendant. Thought he was innocent. White jurors didn’t need her. Convicted him anyway. “It breaks my heart. The system is not built for me.”

Gratitude to Human Rights Watch (@hrw) who wrote directly to Rllen Rosenblum and called her inaction a violation of International Human rights law.

Gratitude and awe to civil rights lawyer Aliza Kaplan (@alizakap) and her Ramos Project for leading the fight & expertise from the beginning. A true honor to get to support and work w/ her & her students. And her work made up a significant part of OR Supreme Court’s concurrence.

And gratitude to my team at zealo.us & filmmakers @DigiAbby & @MichaelKleiman for translating this legal issue into a compelling racial & social justice cause.

Now fight continues. For accountability for Ellen Rosenblum & for retroactive justice round country.

I’m hearing from a lot of folks that this video my org produced and directed has sound cutting in and out. Never a problem before. Please visit StillinPrison.org for the video & more.

And @TwitterSupport, what gives?

https://twitter.com/scotthech/status/1608880150678220800