People’s Law Office lawyers argued two cases before the United States Supreme Court in the early 1990s. In 1992, John successfully briefed and argued the Soldal case, reversing an en banc decision of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals which held that the seizure of Soldal’s mobile home did not violate the Fourth Amendment because it did not infringe on his privacy rights. In a unanimous decision written by Justice Byron White, the Supreme Court held that the seizure of the home, which White wryly noted gave “new meaning” to the term “mobile home,” did in fact violate the Fourth Amendment because it interfered with Soldal’s property rights. The next year, Flint and John returned to the Court and in Buckley v. Fitzsimmons obtained a decision which narrowed the scope of absolute prosecutorial immunity and held that a prosecutor was not absolutely immune for his actions in holding a defamatory press conference or for acting as an investigator during the early stages of a prosecution.
HISTORY BY SECTION
Early Days
The Murder of Fred Hampton
Government Surveillance
Representing the Panthers in Downstate Illinois
Attica New York Prison Riots
The Fred Hampton Murder Trial
Prisoner Rights Work
Puerto Rican Independence Movement and the Puerto Rican Community
Fred Hampton Appeal
George Jones Street Files and False Imprisonment
Representing Demonstrators, Protestors, and Activists
Greensboro
Puerto Rico Work Continues
Police Brutality and Torture
Continuing to Represent Demonstrators and Activists
The Attica Prison Civil Case
Continuing Work in Solidarity With Puerto Rico
Fighting the Death Penalty
Sexual Abuse Litigation and Illegal Strip Search
Back to the Supreme Court
The 1996 Democratic Convention
Policy and Practice Cases
False Arrests and Convictions
Continuing to Defend Dissent
Continuing the Fight for Justice in the Chicago Police Torture Cases
Criminal Defense for Civil Rights Abuses
Jail Suicide
Opposing the Criminalization of the LGBTQ Community
People’s Law Office and The National Lawyers Guild
