BREAKING: The U.S. Supreme Court finally ruled on Steven’s appeal of his private prosecution by Chevron. After months of deliberation, we have our answer – and it is not what we wanted to hear.
Marty Garbus here. Many of you might know me as a civil rights lawyer who for six decades has fought in courts defending prisoners of conscience. I’ve represented Mandela, Havel, Ellsberg, Chavez, and many other courageous individuals who take enormous risks in the fight for justice.
I write to give you a critically important update about a current client who I believe fits in this same category – US human rights lawyer Steven Donziger.
After months of internal debate, seven of the nine justices on the US Supreme Court refused to take Steven’s appeal of his private prosecution by Chevron. The lower court thereby legalized the concept of a private corporate prosecution in the United States. Two of the justices wrote a blistering dissent in support of Steven.
This outcome is a flagrant violation of the rule of law. It is also frightening. The very concept of a corporate prosecution happens in no other country in the world. And it should never again happen here to Steven or anyone else.
That’s why we need to seize on this development to fight like hell to make sure the fossil fuel industry is not allowed to make corporate prosecutions the new normal in this country.
There is an important silver lining: the dissent could not have been more supportive of our position. It stated:
“Our Constitution does not tolerate what happened here.”
Damn right it doesn’t. But apparently now it does – thanks to the inaction of the Supreme Court, which in my opinion failed to sufficiently defend the rule of law in this hour of need.
Such a major rebuke to Chevron and the oil industry by our highest court was apparently too heavy a lift – further underscoring the weakness of our country’s judiciary in the face of increasing corporate influence in our society.
We cannot rest.
With your help, we must turn this latest outrage into something positive that can fuel our fight for justice.
Chevron never should have been able to orchestrate a private prosecution to retaliate against a courageous lawyer who helped Indigenous peoples win a landmark pollution case. Which is why the following dissent is so important:
“The prosecution in this case broke a basic constitutional promise essential to our liberty. In this country, judges have no more power to initiate a prosecution of those who come before them than prosecutors have to sit in judgment of those they charge. In the name of the “United States,” two different groups of prosecutors have asked us to turn a blind eye to this promise. Respectfully, I would not. With this Court’s failure to intervene today, I can only hope that future courts weighing whether to appoint their own prosecutors will consider carefully Judge Menashi’s dissenting opinion in this case, the continuing vitality of Young, and the limits of its reasoning. Our Constitution does not tolerate what happened here.”
As we have said before, this is way bigger than Steven. This is about the rule of law – and whether or not corporations will be allowed to weaponize the law to silence Earth Defenders.
Please help us continue to fight for justice in the Amazon and to restore Steven’s rights by rushing $10, $25, $50, $100, $250, $500, $1000, $2500, $5000 or whatever you can right now. →
I am convinced that only through a citizen's movement can we save our democracy in this time of peril. One vitally important way to do that is to support frontline defenders like Steven.
Thank you so much for your support. Please donate what you can today.
Marty Garbus
P.S. You can read the full dissent here. |
|
Steven Donziger is a U.S. human rights attorney who helped communities in Ecuador’s Amazon win a historic multibillion-dollar pollution judgment against Chevron for the dumping of billions of gallons of cancer-causing oil waste onto Indigenous ancestral lands. Since the judgment issued in 2013, Chevron has used dozens of law firms and 2000 lawyers to carry out a demonization campaign targeting Steven to send a message of intimidation to all environmental advocates. Steven served 993 days of detention at home and in prison after being prosecuted directly by a Chevron law firm in the nation's first corporate prosecution; he still faces the threat of additional jail time after he appealed an order to turn over confidential information held by his Indigenous clients.
Donate NOW to help support Steven as he and the Ecuadorian communities continue their fight for corporate accountability, environmental justice, Indigenous rights, and Free Speech.
All funds are administered by the Friedman Rubin law firm in Seattle. Funds are used to pay legal fees and Steven’s basic household and work expenses given that Chevron has taken his law license. DONATE NOW |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.