By Michael P. Heiskell, NACDL Immediate Past President
June 2024 issue of The Champion
As I pen this last president’s column in the wake of history — the conviction of former President Trump — I reflect on how my tenure as your president has been both a pleasure and serious obligation to use this coveted space in The Champion. I sincerely appreciate those who have taken the time to read my thoughts, and I hope they have been enriching.
Trump’s conviction unleashed an unprecedented attack by him and many of his supporters on the American legal system and, indeed, our country as a whole. My obligation as a criminal defense attorney is now to defend the best — though flawed — legal system in the history of the world.
I often remind myself and others of what my ancestors experienced as enslaved people and, following slavery, what they faced as a result of Black Codes and Jim Crow laws. It was a horrific and almost indescribable experience for them. Thereafter, the dehumanization continued, threaded with violence through lynchings and beatings. The “second class citizen” status of Black folks was the goal of our country. The “slave mentality” and psychological remnants of oppression still exist today in many respects. This year America marks the 70th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. The efforts of American heroes, attorneys Charles Hamilton Houston, Thurgood Marshall, and Constance Baker Motley, to name a few, to liberate Black society will be heralded forever. Each time I view the photo of six-year-old Ruby Bridges from New Orleans being escorted from Frantz Elementary School in 1960, I seethe. Yet, despite the injustices my ancestors experienced, they continued to support this country in innumerable ways. My father joined America’s Armed Forces in World War II and fought in the Battle of the Bulge to liberate Europe while in the process of also defending America. Yet, when he returned, he was subjected to a racist system determined to keep him a nonentity. Black churches were and still are filled each Sunday with patriotic Americans whose loyalty to this country is unmatched. Though sit-ins, protests, and even riots occurred, our civil rights and political leaders, with a few exceptions, always held up America as the beacon of hope and promise.
Words are the most important and most powerful commodity each of us possesses. Words can inflict damage or cause joy. Words can take one to the depths of despair or the heights of happiness. We must recognize the power of words and use them carefully. This is vitally important for our political leaders, whose choice of words can result in a call to arms or a call to peace. Trump’s demeaning, spiteful, and hate-filled words about our legal system and our country can infect the mind in such a fashion as to sow disrespect for both. To have a former president spew these words is dangerous for the future of our legal system and our country, especially when he promises to exact revenge. As defenders, despite the many flaws we expose, litigate, complain incessantly of, and condemn, our compass and purpose point to forming this more perfect union by improving, and not destroying, our legal system. Trump has taken us into unchartered territory by insulting our legal system and the rule of law in such a public fashion. Rest assured that others will mimic his words to spin, twist, and contort public opinion to fit an agenda beneficial to them individually.
So, my fellow Constitutional Warriors, keep your defender hat on at all times. Wear that hat, especially when someone uses words to demean our legal system and country to fit a particular political agenda.
Speak out and defend our system as the best in the world with appellate processes that are robust and resolute. Let our country and the world know that our legal system will prevail because of the words contained in the greatest Constitution and Bill of Rights that ever existed. Those precious words that bind us together as one — even through a civil war — still ring true today. And do not forget those precious words embodied in the Sixth Amendment that provide us defenders with our charge in life.
As I close, I must thank you for giving me this opportunity to be NACDL’s president. I will never forget the boundless generosity and support I received. I want to charge each of you to either sign up a new member or convince a former member to renew his or her membership in our beloved Association. I want to thank the excellent NACDL staff for their loyalty and support. Thanks also to Executive Director Lisa Wayne, who keeps our Association organized, professional, and strong.
It is time to welcome your incoming president, Chris Wellborn, and support him as he navigates these volunteer waters in his own way. Welcome aboard, Chris!
About the Author
Michael P. Heiskell is the owner of Johnson, Vaughn & Heiskell in the Fort Worth-Dallas, Texas area. He represents individuals and entities in state and federal courts throughout the country, with an emphasis on white collar investigations and prosecutions. He is a past president of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Association.
Michael P. Heiskell
Johnson, Vaughn & Heiskell
Fort Worth, Texas
www.johnson-vaughn-heiskell.com
© 2024, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. All rights reserved. This article originally appeared in The Champion magazine and is reprinted with permission.
