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A group of six attorneys represented Indiana at The American Bar Association’s annual House of Delegates meeting in Chicago earlier this month.
Jimmie McMillian, senior corporate counsel and chief diversity officer for Penske Entertainment, attended the annual meeting for the first time.
He said the two-day meeting provides a chance for attorneys to network, especially with people from their own state they don’t typically interact with.
“I really enjoy that hearing from working with lawyers across the state who represent the delegation, and reconnecting with them, the conversations we have, I think are extremely interesting,” McMillian said. “I think it is interesting to see how current events that you see every day you read about when you’re at the ABA, you see how those issues touch different states, and learn the steps that that those lawyers have now taken to bring those issues to the forefront of the ABA and to get some action from the ABA in regards to those issues.”
McMillian’s term as an ABA delegate is set to expire, but he hopes to be reappointed.
“Definitely something that, you know, I’m growing in my ability to do and knowledge of looking forward to continue to be a part of,” McMillian said.
One of the ABA reports McMillian said he found to be interesting was Report 607, which addresses the involuntary commitment of people with mental disabilities to address homelessness.
The report comes after California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law in 2023 that allowed the involuntary treatment of people with severe mental health conditions as an attempt to address homelessness.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled earlier this year in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson that civil and criminal penalties for camping on public land do not constitute cruel and unusual punishment of homeless people.
“Today’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court provides state and local officials the definitive authority to implement and enforce policies to clear unsafe encampments from our streets. This decision removes the legal ambiguities that have tied the hands of local officials for years and limited their ability to deliver on common-sense measures to protect the safety and well-being of our communities,” Newsom said in a statement. “California remains committed to respecting the dignity and fundamental human needs of all people and the state will continue to work with compassion to provide individuals experiencing homelessness with the resources they need to better their lives.”
Another ABA report McMillian mentioned was one urging the government to enact policies to support private programs and practices that alleviate the burden of medical debt on medically necessary care for patients and families.
“It’s one of those weird, kind of interesting ways that the ABA operates, because there’s no money here, there’s no funding here, there’s no specifics here,” McMillian said. “It’s a concept that the ABA has approved that allows lawyers to say that this is a path that we would like these governmental entities to take to try to alleviate the burden of medical debt.”
McMillian cited Report 503, in which the ABA opposes legislation and urges the repeal of laws requiring the Ten Commandments be displayed in public schools, as another example.
“This is a good example of what happens. They passed the law. The ABA would like the ability to speak against that law,” McMillian said.
That report came following Louisiana’s passage of a law requiring all state-funded school and universities to display the biblical Ten Commandments.
ABA Report 510 urges the government to enact legislation to protect patients’ safe access to health care professionals who offer gender-affirming care and to safeguard healthcare professionals’ ability to provide such care.
Like many states, Indiana passed legislation in 2023 banning gender-affirming care for minors.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana sued the law and was granted an injunction. However, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals lifted the injunction earlier this year.
Senate Enrolled Act 480 is now in effect after legal battles. The law prohibits physicians and other practitioners from knowingly providing gender-transition procedures to a minor, and from aiding or abetting another physician or practitioner to do so.
The procedures banned by the statute include the use of puberty-blocking drugs, cross-sex hormone therapy and gender-reassignment surgery. What was pending before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana has been stayed pending the U.S. Supreme Court’s decison in U.S. v. Skrmetti.
“The vast majority of the resolutions are drafted in a way that allowed the ABA to express an opinion either from a legislative or judicial standpoint, on issues that have been deemed of importance to the American Bar Association lawyer and I suppose to be connected to the purpose, mission and goals of the ABA,” McMillian said.
Networking opportunities
Steven Hoar, a partner with Khan, Dees, Donovan & Khan LLP, also attended the meeting and will deliver a presentation on it at the Indiana State Bar Association’s annual summit in October.
“It just kind of depends what topics there are. I will give the report to the House of Delegates, and then if the Board of Governors wants to weigh in on on any of that, then they can do that,” Hoar said.
This was Hoar’s fourth annual ABA meeting. He said the ABA is an influential organization, whether its reports focus on a certain state or nationally.
“It encourages things to happen. A lot of times that has an impact,” Hoar said.
Hoar mentioned a few ABA reports of interest, including Report 800 that dealt with eliminating the bar application requirement that people disclose a history of being a victim of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, sexual harassment or stalking.
Michael Jasaitis, an attorney with Austgen Kuiper Jasaitis P.C., has been attending the meeting for years.
The ISBA president-elect said he agreed with Hoar that there weren’t many reports that stood out.
“It’s a great source of networking across the country, and it’s an honor to represent Indiana in that in that meeting,” Jasaitis said.
The next ABA House of Delegates meeting will be its February 2025 mid-year meeting in Phoenix.•
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