It was you and other brave and selfless lawyers and their allies around the country who quickly understood that the rule of law is a fundamental ingredient of our free democracy, and that ignoring that long term view in favor of short term protective measures might well leave us with nothing worth protecting.
We have heard about your extraordinary efforts to try to assure the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay fair trials before the military commissions. For months you have been working full time providing briefs, motions, memos, and other materials to the military defense lawyers who have asked for help. You have expanded your own effectiveness by supervising a team of eight law students and working closely with a half dozen other lawyers in Minneapolis. Because of the deadlines imposed by the military judges, this work has often required round the clock efforts. Few lawyers scarcely a year out of law school could possibly have been more true to the fundamental purpose of law itself.
At the Sullivan Ballou Fund we honor people who give from the heart with no expectation of personal reward or self-promotion, but purely out of love and compassion for others. This is so true of you. Not only has all your work been behind the scenes, with no public visibility or acknowledgment, but we have been told that even this small award must be kept private so as not to hamper you effectiveness. Sullivan Ballou would love it! We feel privileged to support you in this small way. And even if the public will never learn of your work, the small group of special people who gather today to celebrate you will leave inspired by your example.
Congratulations!
Bruce Peterson and Susan Thompson, Board Representatives