Charles Ogletree

(Registration required) The U.S. Supreme Court this term will decide whether its 2012 ban on mandatory life without parole sentences for juvenile murderers is retroactive. But some of those offenders and their lawyers hope for more from the justices. The high court has had several opportunities since its ruling in Miller v. Alabama to take up the question of its retroactive effect, but for unknown reasons, it passed until Montgomery v. Louisiana. The justices will hear arguments in Montgomery on Oct. 13. ... In an amicus brief supporting neither side, Harvard Law School’s Charles Ogletree, on behalf of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice and the Criminal Justice Institute, proposes: “A more straightforward way to resolve the case would be to answer the question this court has explicitly left open: whether ‘the Eighth Amendment requires a categorical bar on life without parole for juveniles.’”

Every year, in mid-August, the Vineyard also turns into think tank in paradise, convening discussions on issues relevant to the black community, who started flocking here more than a century ago. This year, four events in four days focused on policing reform, mass incarceration and how the protesters on the streets of cities including Ferguson and Baltimore (and the resulting hashtags on Twitter) are changing the face of the civil rights movement. Regular attendees couldn’t recall such such consistent themes in the past. ... But after Trayvon Martin was killed, it became clear that even well-to-do black children could face discrimination – or worse — because of the color of their skin. “You just found out you really didn’t matter,” said Carter, in her late 40s, speaking at a forum organized by Harvard law professor Charles Ogletree in Oak Bluffs.

An op-ed by Charles Ogletree and Kevin C. Peterson. This week Americans recognize the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act. But when it comes to protecting one of our most fundamental rights, is this a time of national rejoicing or mourning? Weeping? Or reaping? Two years ago the 1965 Voting Rights Act was effectively eviscerated. The animating legal mechanisms that gave the act its authority — allowing blacks and other groups to steadily gain electoral equity — was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, a decision resulting in an immediate avalanche of anti-voting-rights legislation spanning from Texas to North Dakota, from Pennsylvania to Alabama.

Protesters who hijacked a presidential forum in Arizona last Saturday demanding that the candidates spend more time addressing problems in the black community left feeling dissatisfied. But a week later, what at the time felt like a disastrous disruption has supercharged the Black Lives Matter movement — and pushed Hillary Clinton and her rivals for the Democratic nomination to speak to the concerns of an African-American community that is enraged by high-profile incidents of police misconduct and is demanding that its voice be heard...It’s something [Martin] O’Malley seems to have realized. On Wednesday, he released a statement saying his “heart breaks for Sandra Bland and her family” and called for a “thorough and independent investigation of the traffic stop, the arrest and Ms. Bland’s tragic death in custody.” He also called Harvard Law Professor Charles Ogletree on Wednesday to discuss the Black Lives Matter movement and topics important to the African-American community, as part of a series of discussions ahead of unveiling his criminal justice platform.

Joining me is Congressman Bobby Scott, Democrat from Virginia, who is pushing a major criminal reform bill through Congress and Harvard law professor Charles Ogletree... One of the things that we`ve been doing...for race and justice at Harvard, we`ve been talking about how important it is to deal with mass incarceration, to deal with the fact that too many people are in jail, and we like this idea the president is thinking about people need to be treated and helped and given a second chance like we talked about decades ago. And I think that`s what is going to be very important.

An op-ed by Charles Ogletree. The last time I visited Shreveport, the Confederate flag still adorned the Caddo Parish Courthouse. It was 2011 and I came to meet with Carl Staples, the man who refused to serve on a jury so long as that flag — a symbol of one of the most "heinous crimes ever committed to another member of the human race" — flew over the courthouse lawn. How could we be here for justice, Staples asked, when we "overlook this great injustice by continuing to fly this flag?" When I heard about Staples' courage I had to meet him. It was an honor to stand with him and Caddo Parish's community, business and church leaders as they asked the Caddo Parish Commission to take down that flag.

... CHUCK TODD: We'll cover it all, victories for liberals, President Obama's growing legacy, and how conservatives will respond. I'll be joined by two 2016 Republican candidates, Bobby Jindal, governor of Louisiana, and Lindsey Graham, senator from South Carolina. Finally, terror abroad and concerns at home. How serious is the threat to us? I'm Chuck Todd, and joining me for insight and analysis this Sunday morning are former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Michael Eric Dyson of Georgetown University, Kathleen Parker of The Washington Post, and Charles Ogletree of Harvard Law School. Welcome to Sunday, it's Meet the Press. ... As we bring in the panel, I wanted everyone to see how the Supreme Court's decision was covered in America's newspaper. For many people, these are the kinds of front pages they'll be saving, hanging on their wall, framing it. You'll see it there from all over the country. They will be souvenirs for many people. Others maybe not so much. Let me bring in the panel. Charles Ogletree, Michael Eric Dyson, Newt Gingrich. Charles Ogletree, let me start with you. You're the Harvard law professor here. What did you learn from the Supreme Court this week? Charles Ogletree: It was a great series of decisions. And I think that this is not about left and right. The Republicans have not turned conservative or library. This is about justice and equality. And I think those opinions show about justice equality. So I'm very happy with what was decided by the court today.

An op-ed by Robert J. Smith and Charles J. Ogletree Jr: Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a death penalty case, Glossip v. Gross, challenging the use of midazolam — a drug intended to induce an anesthetic and unresponsive state — in executions. The court must consider whether midazolam’s use violates the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment, and specifically whether there is an intolerable risk that the drug, which has been tied to at least three botched executions, will cause gratuitous suffering. Doctors have referred to the use of midazolam as “a failed experiment.” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) labeled a botched execution in Arizona “torture.” And Justice Elena Kagan observed during oral arguments that regaining consciousness during an execution by lethal injection is “like being burned alive.”

...[LeBron] James’s appointment presented a possible turning point: a chance for the most beleaguered of the four major sports unions to strengthen its position, and a victory for Michele A. Roberts, the Players Association’s new firebrand boss....Roberts was fiercely ambitious during those early years. “She committed to it,” Charles J. Ogletree Jr., a Harvard Law School professor and, for a time, Roberts’s boss at the Public Defender Service, told me. “She’d get in at 6 in the morning and stay till 11 at night, seven days a week.” But what set Roberts apart from the other young lawyers was her ability to turn off all that naked ambition once she got inside the courtroom. In the poor, mostly black Washington, D.C., of the 1980s, “she used her race and gender to her benefit,” Ogletree said. “She had a really folksy way of getting along with people who were total strangers. She was like the 13th juror.”

In 1988, a group of black students at Harvard Law School compiled a report designed to recognize the growing achievements of black students on campus and share their wisdom with newcomers. The longest essay in the 50-page newsletter was written by a 24-year-old third-year student named Michelle Robinson, who devoted more than 3,000 words to an appeal for greater faculty diversity. “The faculty’s decisions to distrust and ignore non-traditional qualities in choosing and tenuring law professors,” she wrote, “merely reinforce racist and sexist stereotypes.” ... During her three years on campus, Michelle represented indigent clients, worked on a law journal focused on African-American perspectives and sought to inspire a greater sense of purpose in her fellow students. Her friends were not surprised. “Michelle always, everything she wrote, the things that she was involved in, the things that she thought about, were in effect reflections on race and gender,” said Charles Ogletree, a Harvard professor and mentor to Michelle. “And how she had to keep the doors open for women and men going forward.”

Bob McDonnell suddenly has a lot of friends. An unlikely coalition of current and former politicians from both parties, prominent legal scholars, and even retired federal judges has gone to bat for the former Virginia governor in his appeal of federal corruption charges...Another brief, signed by retired judge Nancy Gertner and Charles Ogletree, a former professor of and mentor to President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, argues that the definition of official acts used to convict the former governor is “ill defined” and “unconstitutionally vague.” Gertner told Politico that she believes the issue of what acts and what receipts constitute corruption raises an important constitutional question and could end up in the Supreme Court. Though she understands that people may be “uncomfortable” with the size of the gifts, she does not believe that the former governor’s actions met the quid pro quo requirement. “The theory of the prosecution was too broad,” Gertner said.

Former Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell’s appeal has spurred some unusual alliances. John Ashcroft, attorney general under President George W. Bush, and Gregory Craig, who spent several years as counsel to President Barack Obama, found common ground in arguing that McDonnell was wrongfully convicted...Harvard Law School professors Nancy Gertner, a former federal judge, and Charles Ogletree Jr., along with John Jeffries Jr. of the University of Virginia School of Law, filed a brief together. Represented by William Taylor III of Zuckerman Spaeder, they wrote that previous U.S. Supreme Court cases showed the “erroneous breadth” of the trial judge’s jury instructions.

The Justice Department’s scathing Ferguson report shows that the government is paying attention, Harvard law scholar Charles Ogletree told DW. He says Ferguson is not an isolated case and suggests what to do about it.

The trial of alleged Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev enters its second day today, but the defense has already made a curiously blunt admission: "It was him." One of the first things Tsarnaev's attorney Judy Clarke told the court Wednesday was that he was responsible for the "senseless, horrific, misguided acts." ...Charles Ogletree, Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, agreed."Their point is there's no question that what he did was wrong, being involved in the marathon bombing, but they're also saying that life imprisonment is enough punishment that would appropriate," he said. So why not just plead guilty to the 30 charges related to the bombing in the first place? First, Olgetree said the defense likely lobbied for a deal in which Tsarnaev pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty, but the government didn't go for it -- potentially under pressure from the Obama administration, after Attorney General Eric Holder authorized the government to seek the death penalty last January. "So they don't think life imprisonment is justified, is not enough," Ogletree said.

Harvard Law School Professor Charles Ogletree is asking outgoing U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to spare the life of alleged Boston Marathon Bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Ogletree is scheduled to meet with Holder in Washington on Friday. Attorney General Eric Holder has already called for a moratorium on the death penalty pending the outcome of a Supreme Court ruling on the use of lethal injection drugs in Oklahoma. Ogletree says he is asking the nation’s top law enforcement official to take it a step further and make it permanent.

Ever since Buju Banton, one of Jamaica's most talented and controversial reggae singers, was convicted of cocaine trafficking and gun charges in 2011, there have been signs his trial was not on the up-and-up...So is there a wider probe into potential misconduct that could move Banton a step closer to freedom? "I hope," says defense attorney Charles Ogletree, who heads Harvard Law School's Institute for Race and Justice. He has been representing Banton (real name Mark Myrie) for the past year. "Here we have a wildcat juror, somebody who's going way beyond their authority and doing things that were completely inappropriate. This undermined the search for truth, which resulted, I think, in the conviction of [Banton]."

An op-ed by Charles Ogletree and Rob Smith: Governor Kitzhaber has given 35 years of steadfast service to the people of Oregon. His tirelessness and courage have helped to forge a State that is the envy of the nation -- a community as strong and prosperous as it is just and fair. But the job is not yet done. In his last few hours in the Capitol Building, Governor Kitzhaber has the opportunity to undertake perhaps the most courageous act of his career, one that would create his most enduring legacy -- the Governor can commute the death sentences of the 34 men and one woman on Oregon's death row. A decision to commute the death sentences would align with contemporary standards of decency in Oregon, and increasing it aligns with the norms of the nation. A recent poll in the Oregonian showed that 74 percent of respondents would support a Kitzhaber decision to commute all existing death sentences. This same sense of decreasing support for capital punishment resonates throughout the country.

Convicted SAC Capital Advisors LP fund manager Mathew Martoma is getting help with his insider-trading appeal from the same Harvard professor who helped him fight expulsion for faking his law school transcript 15 years ago. Charles Ogletree Jr., a friend and former law professor of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, said Martoma visited him in his Cambridge, Massachusetts, office in October to ask for help...Ogletree agreed to join Martoma’s appeal.

With all the critical acclaim being heaped on the civil rights drama “Selma,” which recently won an Oscar nomination for Best Picture, two big names in Boston’s African-American business community wanted to make sure black students have a chance to see the movie, too. So Flash and Bennie Wiley—he’s of a counsel at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, she’s principal of The Wiley Group — reached out to their network of friends and colleagues, who collectively raised $120,000 for the Students of Selma Fund, which at last count has enabled 10,890 Boston middle and high schoolers to see the film for free...The scores of donors included...Harvard Law School’s Charles Ogletree and his wife, Pam, CEO of Children’s Services of Roxbury.