What lies does he tell to conn his constituents when he leads the battle AGAINST bills that could make their lives better?
Stephanie Ortoleva is an accomplished human rights lawyer and prominent feminist leader, scholar and activist, and herself a woman with a disability, who established Women Enabled International (WEI), in 2012 the first and still only international organization dedicated to advancing human rights at the intersection of gender and disability.
Prior to founding WEI in 2012, Stephanie served as an attorney and human rights officer at the U.S. Department of State, where she was honored with the prestigious Franklin Award in 2009 in recognition of her outstanding achievements. Additional awards for her prolific contributions to civil rights and social justice include Hofstra University School of Law ‘Outstanding Women in Law’ awardee in 2017, and Women’s E-News recognition in 2016 as a leader for women’s rights for the 21st Century.
Stephanie is the former founding Co-Chair of the American Society of International Law’s International Disability Rights Interest Group, served on the American Bar Association’s Commission on Disability Rights, is a member of the Board of Directors of Disability Rights International and the U.S. International Council on Disability. She graduated from Hofstra University School of Law with outstanding honors.
Her ground-breaking research and writings framed the core intersectional human rights issues that define WEI’s ongoing work and have influenced scholars and activists around the world to explore gender and disability and related intersections. Those prominent papers addressed issues such as violence against women with disabilities, access to justice, women with disabilities in conflict and humanitarian settings and peacebuilding processes.
The following is the introduction to an interview of Ortoleva by Mekiya Walters for ABILITY Magazine. The interview is well worth reading. See for yourself at https://abilitymagazine.com/stephanie-ortoleva/
With a resume spanning decades, Stephanie Ortoleva, Esq. has founded, headed or sat on the boards of more groups and organizations than one could hope to shake the proverbial stick at. A civil rights attorney and scholar by training, she served in the US Department of State from 2004 to 2009 as a Human Rights Officer and as the Disability Coordinator. During that time, she represented the US government at the negotiations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), worked in partnership with the UN and the Organization of American States, and advanced the participation of women and persons with disabilities in areas including peace-building and post-conflict resolution, economic development, violence prevention, environmental preservation and fighting infectious disease. In 2009, she received the prestigious Franklin Award for her work on human rights and was the State Department’s featured employee for Women’s History Month. And yet, as far as Stephanie was concerned, she was only getting started. Frustrated by the absence of intersectional initiatives for women with disabilities, she founded her own organization. Women Enabled International (WEI), incorporated in 2011, partners with grassroots organizations around the world to provide support and resources to women with disabilities and arm them with international expertise and legal tools. After serving for 10 years as WEI’s executive director and heading up projects around the globe, in 2021 Stephanie decided the time had come to pass the torch to the next generation. ABILITY Magazine’s Mekiya Walters spoke with her about making the world a little bit better for women with disabilities than it was the day before.
The Supreme Court’s recent assault on our rights has gone far beyond Roe and Dobbs. The Supreme Court quietly issued a 6-3 ruling recently on Shinn v. Martinez Ramirez, siding against two Arizonans on death row who sought to challenge their convictions in federal court after receiving shoddy legal support. The majority’s rationale, which was based on a 1996 federal law, was that state sovereignty and legal expediency must be protected at all costs.
Unfortunately, those costs are clear. The Court’s ruling slashed Americans’ constitutional right to effective counsel by eviscerating the life-saving accountability mechanism that allows people to appeal unjust rulings. The six conservative justices have plainly prioritized the legal system’s power to convict and kill over our human right to live.
What is less clear is why, in a nation where folks will literally risk children’s lives to maintain their Second Amendment rights, Americans seem perfectly happy to hand over their Sixth Amendment rights with hardly a thought. The silence on social media and in our public discourse about this ruling is alarming — we should be very scared and very, very angry.
As the executive director and founder of a nonprofit that works to help low-income Americans navigate the complexities of the legal system by bolstering public defense resources, I know all too well that for many, this case — which is shrouded in the deliberately-exclusionary language of legal discourse — feels more like a remote technicality than an assault on basic rights.
But let me assure you: If you’re worried about your Constitutional rights as a citizen, you should recognize that this is one of the most egregious governmental oversteps of our lifetime, right in line with the current oppressive theme of the Roberts Court.
People’s lives have been irrevocably changed by the recent Dobbs opinion that overturned Roe, stripping away what protection of our bodily autonomy remained in Constitutional law. The Supreme Court declined to issue any opinions the week after the Uvalde shooting, and those were right who guessed that it was because their ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v Bruenwould have looked especially ghoulish in the wake of the massacres in Buffalo, Orange County, and Uvalde — as well as the 12 more mass shootings that took place over Memorial Day Weekend.
The decision in Shinn, though, is no less ghoulish: It tells every American citizen, yet again, in yet another context, that the rights and protections to which we thought we were entitled will no longer protect us from bad government.
And don’t be fooled — not committing crimes won’t keep you safe on this one.
We live in a world where innocent people are prosecuted every day. This ruling erodes protections for any American who might — at any time — be perceived guilty of any sort of wrongdoing. Whether it be the person in the midst of a miscarriage who is accused of committing an abortion in a red state, or the person who rented a car to visit family and was accused of stealing it despite a complete lack of evidence. It truly could be any of us at any time. All it takes is running into the wrong cop or prosecutor at the wrong time. And after Dobbs, it might take as little as a bad pregnancy outcome, whatever the cause.
Of course, it’s most likely to be those of us who happen to be Black or Brown or poor. It’s critical to acknowledge that the system disproportionately accuses Black and Brown Americans of wrongdoing, with Black Americans being incarcerated at nearly five times and Hispanics being incarcerated 1.3 times the rate of whites. But when the law no longer protects American life, liberty and property against legal incompetence with lifetime stakes, no individual can consider themselves outside the zone of harm.
The police and prosecutors we are relying on to arbitrate justice are often wildly ineffective and sometimes operating with ulterior motives. These are the folks who booked a man on charges of possessing methamphetamine because the donut he was eating in his car left a white glaze on the floorboard. I myself have witnessed prosecutors bring cases to court that have no business being there — ranging from felony accusations with no basis and alibi witnesses to baseless drug cases based on the word of a disgraced police officer. Even DNA evidence, so often considered the gold standard of proof, is subject to error and incompetence, resulting in horrifying miscarriages of justice.
This smattering of examples points to the fact that wrongful convictions are a widespread fixture of the criminal legal system. Some groups estimate that as many as one out of every 100 people charged with a crime are completely innocent. My experience as a public defender leads me to believe that the real number may, in fact, be higher — when you consider people whose behavior may have been flawed but whose prosecutions alleged ludicrously stretched versions of the truth.
The people best situated to stand between ordinary folks and the nightmare of wrongful conviction are public defenders, who serve around 80 percent of accused people and have the confidential access needed to build an intimate understanding of their cases. Public defenders are the last bulwark between the individual and the life-altering consequences of criminal punishment, designated as an upstream, automatic resource for the vast majority of individuals.
Though these jobs are not glamorous, defender gigs can be some of the most competitive to attain in the legal field, as more young lawyers choose the righteous path of championing liberty and equity, resulting in a next generation of superb counsel.
But even the best lawyer cannot do their best work under impossible circumstances, and continual under-resourcing of defense agencies while prosecutions skyrocket can force the citizenry to endure poor counsel. Though governments across the country are beginning to realize the stunning potential defenders hold as an engine of opportunity and safety, that does not absolve our government of the responsibility to ensure that the rights it has conferred on its citizens are realized. If the state shoulders the role of prosecution, it must ensure an accordant protection against its own errors, and that means resourcing and supporting public defense.
The Supreme Court’s ruling on Shinn v. Martinez Ramirez has sentenced Americans — particularly low-income Americans of color — to irreversible life and even death sentences. It sets forth a principle I cannot imagine any American actually believes: that the government’s efficiency in killing its own citizens is more important than the citizen’s right to protest their innocence… that greasing the machinery of death is more important than ensuring the government hasn’t got it wrong.
It’s a gruesome conclusion from a court that seems bent on increasing the suffering of the American people.
BY EMILY GALVIN-ALMANZA, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR - 06/29/22 2:30 PM ET
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE HILL
Emily Galvin-Almanza is the co-founder and Executive Director of Partners for Justice, a new model of collaborative public defense designed to empower public defenders nationwide. Prior to founding PFJ, Emily worked as a public defender in both California and New York. Follow her on Twitter @GalvinAlmanza
Photo by Tingery Injury Law Firm.
CLAUDIA L. GORDON (1972 - )
Claudia Gordon is Special Assistant to the Director of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) in the Department of Labor. Her responsibility: to ensure that contractors doing business with the Federal government don’t discriminate on the basis of color, gender, religion or nonbelief, age, race, ethnic background, national origin, disability, or veteran’s status, and so forth.
She personally experienced the worst sort of discrimination during her early years, but also had a strong foundation of love and support that enabled her to withstand it. She was born in rural Jamaica. Her mother, who had only an eighth-grade education, worked as a domestic servant and laundress to support her three children. She immigrated to the South Bronx so she could earn a better living, and planned to reunite with the children as soon as she could. They were left in the capable care of her eldest sister, Mildred Taylor, a schoolteacher.
When Claudia was 8, she suddenly developed severe pain in her middle ears—possibly otitis media. Mildred took her to a small clinic; there were no hospitals nearby, and, in the clinic, no doctor on duty. The nurse on duty couldn’t figure out what was wrong, only that Claudia was going deaf. Otitis media is treated with antibiotics for the infection and analgesics for the pain. She didn’t receive any treatment.
As she later told a reporter, “My life changed overnight.” Although she had been “the brightest and most outgoing kid in my class,” she was pulled out of school, lost her friends, stayed home, and became an object of ridicule.“I thought I was the only deaf person in the world.” In Jamaica, deaf and disabled persons are stigmatized. Gordon recalls that a deaf woman who lived in the area was called “dummy,” and that the children threw stones at her. Later, she recognized that “the life of this woman . . . almost became my own but for my mother’s triumph in successfully bringing me to America by the time I was 11 years old.”
Freer a frustrating start in public school, she was transferred to Lexington School for the Deaf, learned sign language, participated in sports, and became a top student—valedictorian of her junior-high and senior-high classes. By the time she reached her junior year in high school, she knew that she wanted to become a lawyer. She was strong enough to shrug off those who doubted that she could do it, or considered it an impossible goal.
She earned a degree in Political Science at Howard University, and studied disability-rights law and policy at American University’s Washington College of Law. When she graduated in 2000, she became the first known deaf African-American woman to earn a Juris Doctor (law degree).
She then won a Skadden Fellowship (which has been described as the “legal Peace Corps”) for 2000-2002, and worked as a staff attorney at the NAD Law and Advocacy Center and a consulting attorney with the National Council on Disability. Working with impoverished and minority deaf people, she became intrigued by the prospect of working in a Federal office. Passing legislation to safeguard the rights of disabled persons was one thing. Implementing these laws was a different challenge entirely. She wanted to have direct involvement in the enforcement of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the American with Disabilities Act of 1990, combating “the blatant discrimination that people with disabilities continue to face.”
Gordon has been actively involved with the National Black Deaf Advocates. She was Miss Black Deaf America in 1990, and NBDA Vice President from 2002 to 2005.
She participated in the Ralph Lauren Polo Jeans G.I.V.E. (“Get Involved, Volunteer, Exceed”) ad campaign promoting volunteerism, launched in 2003. She was featured on posters in malls across the country, including one opposite Macy’s on 34th Street in Manhattan, making an ILY sign, beaming, confident, and beautiful. The NBDA was a beneficiary of this campaign.
In 2004, she became Senior Policy Advisor for the Department of Homeland Security, Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. She assisted in the implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities in Emergency Preparedness, monitoring how Federal agencies worked together to ensure that deaf and disabled persons were included in emergency-preparedness plans.
The Obama Administration appointed her to her current post at the OFCCP. Even though “it’s not as well-known as its sister agencies like the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, OFCCP has powerful investigative and regulatory authorities for protecting workers, promoting diversity, and enforcing the law.” She enjoys the challenges of working with OFCCP Director Patricia Shiu, her colleagues, and a nationwide staff of “nearly 750 dedicated public servants.” She doesn’t have much of a personal life, but does credit the love and support she’s received from her family.
“I am motivated by knowing that although progress is being made towards inclusion and access, there is still a great deal more work to be done.”
February 9, 2022 Independence Now
Official Federal Photograph of Claudia Gordon
Information for this post was collected by Independence Now Board Member, Sandra Sermons, and originally appeared on www.DeafPeople.com, a site that “celebrates the achievements of deaf people in history, and those who are still active in their careers.” Each month, they highlight a contemporary newsmaker.
Maurice T. Cunningham suggests we try a four-part test of the group.
It's worth pondering who and what is really behind some school activist groups that claim to be grassroots. [LLOYD FOX | Baltimore Sun ]
Moms for Liberty held its national summit in Tampa, and that’s quite an achievement for a grassroots group started just last year by two liberty-loving moms. But since even the “two moms” claim falls apart, it’s worth asking what Moms for Liberty really is.
I pay attention when a new “parents” or “moms” group bursts upon the education/politics scene. I exposed the millions in dark money behind Families for Excellent Schools during a 2016 charter schools ballot question campaign in Massachusetts. New groups like Moms for Liberty are just as transparently Astroturf — a group that claims to be grassroots but is actually artificial turf.
One of the best tools for analyzing phony education groups is a four-part test by Professor Daniel Katz. Let’s see how Moms for Liberty does.
Growth at a pace that only a corporation’s monetary resources could manage. Moms for Liberty incorporated as an Internal Revenue Code 501(c)(4) organization, a form that lends itself to dark money political shenanigans. It exploded on the scene with its leaders being guests on Fox News and breaking into the Washington Post. It has a well-developed website and extensive social media reach. Moms for Liberty has formed three federal and one state political action committees, one of which is a SuperPAC able to accept unlimited donations. Its careers page is seeking state coordinators to work with the chapter chair coordinator, and a communications officer. Here’s something I’ve noticed following Moms for Liberty and similar organizations: the “comms moms” — many of these groups’ leaders have backgrounds in marketing and communications. “At the top, (Moms for Liberty) … are political strategists, risk managers and communications professionals — high-powered women with connections to top state and national Republicans,” reports the Florida Phoenix. Moms for Liberty’s press is being handled by Calvary Strategies whose CEO is a former campaign manager and chief of staff to Sen. (then-Gov.) Rick Scott.
Since its inception Moms for Liberty has managed a fund raiser with former Fox News celebrity Megyn Kelly (top ticket $20,000), co-hosted The American Dream Conference featuring a keynote from former Trump Cabinet secretary Ben Carson, and the national summit (presenting sponsorships for $50,000 are sold out, featuring Gov. Ron DeSantis, Carson, Sen. Rick Scott and former Trump Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.
Who is funding the group and for how much? Moms for Liberty’s leaders claim to get by on t-shirt sales. They’ve barely even heard of the Koch brothers! Yet perhaps they’ve heard of the Council for National Policy. Two of Moms for Liberty’s National Summit sponsors, the Leadership Institute and Heritage Foundation are critical members of the Council for National Policy, a secretive network of right wing billionaires and Christian fundamentalist leaders that underwrites and coordinates right wing politics.
Who is really running the operation? The two “founders” are former school committee member Tina Descovich, a communications and marketing professional and Tiffany Justice, also a former school committee member. But there was a third founder, Bridget Ziegler. She is still a school committee member and her husband, Christian Ziegler, is vice chairman of the Florida Republican Party and the owner of a political marketing firm. He boasts that Moms for Liberty will provide crucial ground support for DeSantis’ re-election.
Then there’s the odd coincidence of so many grassroots parents organizations arising at the same time with similar missions. Parents Defending Education is Koch-connected. The Koch-funded American Legislative Exchange Council claims credit for the havoc wreaked by anti-Critical Race Theory legislation. The Council for National Policy’s Leadership Institute commenced its own program to take over school boards. The Council for National Policy-connected Turning Point USA initiated a School Board Watch List for reporting “woke” school boards.
Do its supposed grassroots members have even a clue what the organization is about? Upstart operations like Moms for Liberty, according to a column in Forbes, “are operated by professional communications folks and seasoned political operatives, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t activated and harnessed actual anger and upset among people on the ground.” It also doesn’t mean those people understand that what they think is grassroots is actually manipulation from secretive puppeteers above.
Moms for Liberty could put such questions to rest by revealing its true financiers. But that would lead to a lot of uncomfortable inquiries, questions perhaps even the comms moms can’t handle.
Maurice T. Cunningham retired in 2021 as associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. He is the author of “Dark Money and the Politics of School Privatization.”
Published by the Tampa Bay Times July 9, 2022