ALI Member Merrick Brian Garland Is President Obama's SCOTUS Nominee

Human rights advocate Dr. Jeremy Levitt earned his law degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School, where he graduated with Dean's List Honors. Dr. Jeremy Levitt is a member of the American Law Institute (ALI), the country's leading organization working toward the improvement and modernization of law. President Obama's SCOTUS nominee, Merrick Brian Garland, is also a member of ALI.

Merrick Brian Garland is the incumbent chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, a post he has held since February 2013. Garland has been considered by President Obama to replace Associate Justice Antonin Scalia in the Supreme Court following the latter's demise earlier this year.

Chief Judge Garland has a stellar academic record, having graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1977. Following his graduation from law school, he served as a clerk to judges in the U.S. Court of Appeals and U.S. Supreme Court. Garland also served as a special assistant to the U.S. Attorney General. He resumed practice in 1985 as a partner at Arnold & Porter.

Chief Judge Garland returned to civil service as the assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. Prior to being named as a circuit judge, Garland also served as principal associate deputy attorney general.

Outside of his practice, Chief Judge Garland has taught law at the Harvard School of Law, and he is an a member of the Executive Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States.

The American Society of International Law and Human Rights

Los Angeles native Dr. Jeremy Levitt is the Vice-Chancellor Chair at the University of New Brunswick Faculty of Law. Experienced in international law, Dr. Jeremy Levitt maintains membership in the American Society of International Law (ASIL).

Founded in 1906, ASIL was congressionally chartered in 1950 and serves as a nonprofit membership organization with a mission to advance the study and practice of international Law. ASIL encompasses numerous concentrations including the environment, health, science, and technology, human rights, and international crime law.

The study of international human rights law initially experienced growth following the end of World War II. Since then, this burgeoning body of international law has come to cover a wide range of subtopics, including political, economic, and social rights. International human rights law is promoted and administered by numerous institutions established by treaties and conventions. The UN Security Council has also contributed to upholding international law by creating permanent courts such as the International Criminal Court.                            

Race Politics in Hollywood

An accomplished academic, Dr. Jeremy Levitt has also been an administrator at such institutions as Florida A&M University College of Law. An author on a wide variety of topics pertaining to national and international affairs, Dr. Jeremy Levitt has expertise in race politics and how they affect our culture.

Race politics play a large part in the inner workings of any institution, and can change the experience of those within it. This has been made clear by the #OscarsSoWhite campaign, which brought to light the racial imbalance among the nominees for the 2016 Academy Awards. Researchers have found, however, the Oscars are only a small example of race politics in Hollywood.

A study by the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication suggests a dearth of inclusiveness in hiring in Hollywood. A survey of major media outlets including Netflix, Hulu, and CBS found that 71 percent of characters shown had popularly known “White” names, with the remaining 28 percent of characters being people of color with ethnic names. This evidence supports the claim that there are race politics in Hollywood, as this number is not representative of the percentage of minorities in the US population.

Truth and Reconciliation Findings Lead to Liberian Palava Hut Program

Formerly the dean of the law school and a vice chancellor of the University of New Brunswick, Dr. Jeremy Levitt now serves as a distinguished professor of international law at the Florida A&M University College of Law in Orlando. A respected authority on foreign affairs, Dr. Jeremy Levitt was appointed to Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission by Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the 24th president of Liberia and Africa’s first female head of state.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia (TRC) was established in 2005 to investigate human rights violations that occurred in the country between 1979 and 2003. These violations included abhorrent acts such as massacres, sexual crimes, and murder, and the Commission was tasked with identifying the parties responsible for the crimes and assessing the overall impact they had on victims.

In 2009, the TRC issued its final report, which identified systematic patterns of abuse and outlined recommendations to ensure accountability and just reparations. One of the Commission’s recommendations was to establish a National Palava Hut Program to promote peace and reconciliation in Liberia through community dialogue. In 2013, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf officially established Liberia’s Palava Hut Program, which continues to play a part in helping Liberians overcome their past and work toward a more stable future.

Implementing Truth and Reconciliation Commission Findings in Liberia

Focused on issues of international security, social justice, and women’s rights, Dr. Jeremy Levitt leads the consulting firm The Levitt Group LLC. Dr. Jeremy Levitt has worked with Liberia’s Ministry of Justice on legal transparency issues for more than a decade and was appointed by the country’s president to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

Established in 2005, the TRC was a direct result of a Liberian civil conflict spanning 14 years and the Comprehensive Accra Peace Accord. The TRC made its final recommendations in 2010, and public interest has been high in the following years as to whether these were carried out.

In a 2014 interview with the Liberian Daily Observer, Vice President Joseph N. Boakai emphasized the need for better TRC implementation procedures as a way of promoting social stability. A particularly contentious issue is the TRC recommendation that those who were responsible for the country’s instability over the past three decades be banned from holding top government posts. The Daily Observer article noted that many citizens believe that a significant number of current government officials would be affected if this point were actually implemented.

Other recommendations remaining to be enacted included the creation of a National Palava Hut reconciliation mechamism. Vice President Boakai stressed that the TRC report has led to serious consideration of the mechanics of implementation and that it has helped Liberians overcome their divided past.

Law Professor Tells O'Reilly: "Fox News Plays The Race Card"