Coleman Debates Race In Law

NAACP's Legal Defense and Education Fund Chair William T. Coleman told a crowd of about 100 at the Law School Saturday that the best strategy for litigating a race case is not to make it about race.

"If you have a civil rights case [and] if you can articulate it without having anything to do with race, you have a much better chance of winning the case," Coleman said.

Coleman's speech, titled "Strategies for Litigating Race Cases," was part of the Law School's Saturday School lecture series.

"This school had as much to do with starting the [civil rights] revolution as anyone else," said Coleman, who graduated from the Law School in 1946.

Coleman, the former Secretary of Transportation, will be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, by President Clinton this week.

Another recipient of the Medal of Freedom will be retired federal judge A. Leon Higginbotham Jr., public service professor of jurisprudence at the Kennedy School of Government.

Coleman, a protege of Justice Thurgood Marshall, wrote legal briefs for Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 case in which "separate but equal" racial segregation was declared unconstitutional.

In his speech, Coleman offered views on several current race-related legal issues.

A controversial upcoming case concerns three new congressional districts in Texas. Legislators are accused of drawing the districts along racial lines.

Coleman said the districts were gerrymandered legally along political lines--to protect Democratic candidates.

"Here you can draw the districts as shapely as Justice [Sandra Day] O'Connor," (who opposes the districts as drawn) "but then race takes over," Coleman said.

Coleman also said he disagrees with a recent Supreme Court ruling concerning affirmative action.

In Adarand v. Pena, the Court overturned a law awarding a bonus to firms with federal contracts in which the contractors had hired a certain percentage of minority subcontractors.

That policy should have been upheld, Coleman said, because the firm with the lowest bid--not the one favoring minority subcontractors--won the contract.

Coleman, a neighbor and close friend of possible presidential-candidate Colin Powell, was introduced half-jokingly as a likely future White House counsel if Powell were elected.

"As of now, I would say he's definitely gonna run," Coleman said. "He is a wonderful human being. If the country made the judgment to elect him, he would make a great president."

Students attending the speech said they thought Coleman's speech was inspirational.

"He convinced me that you don't have to make a choice between corporate work and work in the public interest, an issue I had been worrying about," said Obi Okwumabua, a first-year student at the law school.

Professor of Law Charles Ogletree Jr. said Coleman's presentation was "very constructive."

"He made the connection for students between the study of law and the practice of law," Ogletree said. "He has had a peculiar success by arguing cases based on non-race precedence, which is an important skill for students to learn."

The next speaker at the Saturday School series is Johnnie L. Cochran, lead counsel for the O.J. Simpson defense team, who will give a talk on Oct. 28

A controversial upcoming case concerns three new congressional districts in Texas. Legislators are accused of drawing the districts along racial lines.

Coleman said the districts were gerrymandered legally along political lines--to protect Democratic candidates.

"Here you can draw the districts as shapely as Justice [Sandra Day] O'Connor," (who opposes the districts as drawn) "but then race takes over," Coleman said.

Coleman also said he disagrees with a recent Supreme Court ruling concerning affirmative action.

In Adarand v. Pena, the Court overturned a law awarding a bonus to firms with federal contracts in which the contractors had hired a certain percentage of minority subcontractors.

That policy should have been upheld, Coleman said, because the firm with the lowest bid--not the one favoring minority subcontractors--won the contract.

Coleman, a neighbor and close friend of possible presidential-candidate Colin Powell, was introduced half-jokingly as a likely future White House counsel if Powell were elected.

"As of now, I would say he's definitely gonna run," Coleman said. "He is a wonderful human being. If the country made the judgment to elect him, he would make a great president."

Students attending the speech said they thought Coleman's speech was inspirational.

"He convinced me that you don't have to make a choice between corporate work and work in the public interest, an issue I had been worrying about," said Obi Okwumabua, a first-year student at the law school.

Professor of Law Charles Ogletree Jr. said Coleman's presentation was "very constructive."

"He made the connection for students between the study of law and the practice of law," Ogletree said. "He has had a peculiar success by arguing cases based on non-race precedence, which is an important skill for students to learn."

The next speaker at the Saturday School series is Johnnie L. Cochran, lead counsel for the O.J. Simpson defense team, who will give a talk on Oct. 28