Hearsay

The professional life of a lawyer in the public sector is a paper trail of pleadings. The advocate for a government institution can ill afford not to be zealous in representing the views of leadership.

But however skillful one is in hewing an opinion from the timber of available legal acumen, those words of wisdom on the public record are just as likely to create conflicts as they are to resolve them. Words are the sticks and stones that zealots of contrary ideology use to break bones.

A brief skirmish between John Roberts and minority partisans in the Senate Judiciary Committee, for example, focused on one phase of his representation of President Bush the first, as his deputy solicitor general.

We probably are no more likely to discern how Roberts views a pro-life-or-death issue now than we are to find out whether Lisa Madigan really believes that a university hierarchy can and should censor a student newspaper. It just happens to be her job right now to take that position.

The fact that Madigan is sworn to defend the state in this contentious dispute almost cost her a distinguished honor that she was to receive in October from the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ).

The Chicago Headline Club nominated her for a Sunshine Award because she created a new position – a public access counselor to explain to municipal bodies why open government is important state law. She appointed Terry Mutchler to enforce compliance.

Aggrieved student members of SPJ, on a rogue wave of wile, protested the Sunshine Award and urged the national board to rescind its decision to honor Madigan. Headline Club president Meg Tebo, an attorney on the ABA Journal staff, convinced the board to hold its course, and a threatened convention floor fight fizzled.

“We don't believe it's fair to blame Madigan for what happened,” SPJ president David Carlson wrote in the December issue of Quill magazine. He added laconically that the society may need a better system of vetting award nominations.

Moving right along, Madigan last month filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing against entertaining a further appeal of the Illinois case. The Student Press Law Center called this “shocking” but “not surprising.”

In the meantime, Mutchler was heartily welcomed into membership on the board of the Illinois Press Foundation, which provides funds for, among other First Amendment projects, innumerable educational opportunities for student newspaper staffs.

(Full disclosure: This writer made the motion for Mutchler's appointment, which fellow IPF board members adopted unanimously.)

There is little doubt among the practitioners of journalism in Illinois that Lisa Madigan is a capable, formidable ally in the endless fight to open closed doors of governmental secrecy. Public office is a public trust that is blessed by the press and sanctified by the attorney general.

When Madigan's job description required that she go to bat for an employer in a matter that was misunderstood by zealots, the sticks and stones fell short. Her paper trail will prove to be the better for that.

Down in Mattoon, venerable trial lawyer Jack Horsley celebrated his 90th birthday on Dec. 12. A faithful member of the bar since 1939, he has been generous with constructive comment about the profession in many recent letters.

Horsley doesn't get into court any more, but he has penned a reservoir of repertoire in books on subjects from Lincoln's circuitous journeys as a lawyer, to the basics of civil practice, to World War II, in which he received a Purple Heart while a judge advocate in Europe.

You have spun a paper trail worthy of respect and emulation, Jack. Salute!