Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno will Receive 2009 Thurgood Marshall Award at ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 27, 2009 – Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno will receive the 2009 Thurgood Marshall Award from the American Bar Association Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities, recognizing her commitment to the protection of individual, civil and human rights.  The award will be presented Aug. 1 during the ABA’s 2009 Annual Meeting in Chicago.

Reno was the first woman to hold the attorney general position and also was the longest-serving attorney general of the 20th century.  Among her achievements in office were a renewed focus on enforcement of civil rights laws, transparency in government, Native American issues, and non-discriminatory hiring and personnel practices within the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

“Janet Reno has had a remarkable career of public service and commitment to equal justice under law. As a state prosecutor, she fought to reform the juvenile justice system and established the nation’s first drug court. As attorney general, she enforced civil rights laws and made professionalism and integrity the hallmarks of the Department of Justice. And as a private citizen, she continues to fight against unjust convictions and for improvement of the justice system. She is truly deserving of this important award,” said Neal R. Sonnett, section chair.

The award recognizes long-term contributions to the advancement of civil rights, civil liberties and human rights in the United States.  The section established the award in 1992, conferring the inaugural award upon U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.

Abner Mikva, the 2005 Thurgood Marshall Award recipient and former chair of the section, will deliver the keynote address for the award ceremony, which will take place from 8: 00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. in the Crystal Ballroom, Green Level, West Tower of the Hyatt Regency Chicago.  Mikva has served in all three branches of U.S. government, as an Illinois congressman, as chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and as White House counsel.

With more than 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership organization in the world.  As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.

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