The State Bar Association of North Dakota Summer 2013 Gavel Magazine | Page 12

continued from pg. 9 rights, and to find out if the 14th Amendment applied to Indians as well as whites and blacks.” It was 12 days after the trial began that Federal Judge Elmer S. Dundy made a landmark ruling that an Indian “is a person within the meaning of the law,” with the “same inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as the more fortunate white race.” The U.S. government, he ruled, had no legal right to imprison Standing Bear or return him to the reservation in Oklahoma. This freed the chief to continue his journey to bury his son. “Chief Standing Bear defeated the United States Government with a weapon never used before – habeas corpus,” said Starita. “Judge Dundy’s ruling profoundly influenced the course of Indian rights – rights that had been wholly ignored or suspended in legal limbo for a century. For the first time in the nation’s history, his decision provided Indians with a Constitutional cover and prevented the government from moving entire tribes whenever and wherever it wanted.” Starita said the publicity from the trial spawned two federal investigations, helped galvanize thousands of East Coast reformers looking for a new cause in the post-slavery era, and pressured congressmen into championing new laws to benefit the Indian cause. “In some respects, Standing Bear v. Gen. George Crook was the beginning of America’s Civil Rights fight,” he said.

VOGEL LECTURE COVERS CHARACTER AND CIVILITY ISSUES
“Character and Civility Matter: Foundations for the Future of the Legal Profession” was the topic of this year’s Mart Vogel Lecture on Professionalism and Legal Ethics, which was presented as a CLE at the annual meeting. John T. Berry, director of the legal division of the Florida Bar, said for too many