June 2015 Diversity Leadership Council Newsletter

By Sandra Blake

A message from Editor Sandra Blake.

By Cory White

Committee Chair Cory White provides an update on the Committee's activities.

By Letitia Spunar-Sheats

An update from Committee Chair Letitia Spunar-Sheats.

By Phil Milsk

An update on the Committee's recent activities from Chair Phil Milsk.

By Emily N. Masalski

If passed by the Illinois House and signed by the Governor, the Act will require Illinois airports that conduct commercial operations of more than 1,000,000 enplanements a year to update airport facilities on or before January 1, 2017, to provide a clean and private place for nursing mothers to express breast milk.

By Mary F. Petruchius

The ACLU’s Judicial Bypass Coordination Project provides minors with information about the state’s parental notice law for those seeking abortions and assistance in obtaining what is called a “judicial bypass.”

A recap of this year's conference.

A summary of this program, which took place in March.

By Vera Sarilyn Verbel

The author shares her experience as a party in the Illinois court system.

Fifty years after the Selma Freedom March, Loyola University Chicago’s Baum lecture featured Adrienne Y. Bailey, PhD., a senior consultant with Panasonic Foundation and one of the students who participated in that life-changing event.

Please welcome KiKi Mosley, Hellin Jang and Inez Toledo, who were selected from the Fellows nominees.

By Priti Nemani

In a political climate where the delicate interests of religion and government continue to collide both domestically and internationally, the Holt decision renews the promise of the First Amendment by demonstrating that all Americans, even prison inmates, are entitled to the right to freely exercise religious beliefs and by reminding our courts to review challenges to this essential American freedom with a particularly careful eye.

By Edward N. Druck & Tejas Shah

Recent executive actions enacted by the President and the Department of Homeland Security are estimated to collectively provide work authorization to 4 million undocumented individuals across the U.S., and impact hundreds of thousands of individuals in the state of Illinois alone.

By Catherine D. Battista & Priti Nemani

To date, no Illinois court has ruled that liability under the Act is limited to natural persons. As a result, courts are tasked to consider the statutory language of the Act and whether it may be inclusive of corporate defendants.

By Julianne Gerding

A history of affirmative action in the U.S.

By Hon. Mark J. Lopez, Emily N. Masalski, & Spiridoula Mavrothalasitis

On May 14, 2015, the Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois held its 2015 Spring Gala at Prairie Production in Chicago’s West Loop neighborhood.

By Paul J. Glaser

Prosecutors say the darnedest things in closing arguments, and sometimes those things amount to reversible error.

At the ISBA Awards Luncheon on June 19, 2015, Sonni Choi Williams, Deputy Corporation Counsel for the City of Peoria, will be awarded the 2015 ISBA Diversity Leadership Award.