President’s Message – November 2014 – NOW MORE THAN EVER…

By Esther Berezofsky, Public Justice Foundation President

I woke up Wednesday, Nov. 5, after the mid-term elections and wondered whose country I was living in. We now have a majority in Congress that will fight against income equality, will usurp a woman’s right to make decisions about her body, and will seek to populate the judiciary with stewards of corporate interests who would replace blindfolded lady justice with a bobble head that winks and nods. A judiciary that seals internal corporate documents concealing from the public product defects with the potential to kill and maim. 

The legislators in this post mid-term world will continue to impose limits on a plaintiff’s ability to get fair compensation for harm inflicted by others, and vote to benefit and confer rights on corporations, versus people, and would have them considered one and the same.

Sometimes those who would hijack our American dream seem to be winning. Election Day was a day like that. I felt sad, and even a little disheartened. But I also felt energized…and excited! Excited to be part of this organization called Public Justice, whose mission is to insure that the courtroom is truly a hall of justice, where those who do not have wealth and power are as fairly represented as those who do; to empower consumers and to fight these battles in the court room, at trial and in appellate forums.

Election Day was both a wake-up call and a rallying cry — and a realization that this is our moment and our opportunity. It has never been more important to support Public Justice in its fight against court secrecy; to support the anti-bullying work that resulted in a recent Federal Court decision allowing plaintiffs case against a school administration that condoned a culture of silence and harassment to go forward; and to fight against increasing legislation that sanctions the destruction of our environment, whose preservation — sea to shining sea — is our birthright and a Public Justice imperative.

The more our legislative allies wage this good fight in town halls, state capitals, and in Washington, the more important it is for us to do our part in the courts. The continued support of our members and the work of cooperating counsel, together with the extraordinary efforts of the Public Justice staff attorneys will allow us to do just that.

Thank you for your support enabling Public Justice to galvanize its mission. And now: let’s get to work!