National Law Journal: Lawyer Fights for Pardon for First Black Heavyweight Champ, Victim of Miscarriage of Justice
New York partner John Siegal was interviewed for the December 31 National Law Journal article, "Lawyer Fights for Pardon for First Black Heavyweight Champ, Victim of Miscarriage of Justice."
According to the article, boxer Jack Johnson became the first black world heavyweight boxing champion from 1908 to 1915, but he also became a larger-than-life figure who challenged the racial stereotypes and civil rights limitations of his era and paid a price for it.
Johnson flouted social taboos of the time by dating and marrying three white women, according to the article. In 1913, prior to his second marriage, he was charged and convicted of violating the Mann Act, allegedly "transporting women across state lines for immoral purposes." He and his new wife fled to France but he returned in 1920 to surrender to authorities and eventually spend a year in Leavenworth Prison. In his trial, both the prosecutor and judge cited his race as the basis of the prosecution.
In 2004, Siegal led a legal effort, organized by filmmaker Ken Burns, who produced a documentary of Johnson's life, to seek a posthumous pardon for Johnson from President Bush. In September 2008, Congress passed a bipartisan resolution calling for the pardon, but as of Dec. 30, the president has taken no action on the pardon request.
In the article, Siegal explains how and why he got involved with the committee Burns had assembled. Asked why the legal history of the case was included in the pardon petition, Siegal said, "The power to pardon is a unique and peculiar power and process. We thought he should be pardoned because of his historical significance. Our argument was that he was prosecuted because he was a flamboyant symbol of black-American hopes. He should be pardoned for same reason, that we as nation no longer staunch those hopes."
Siegal continued: "At the time, the prosecution's petition was rife with racial animus that may have been viewed as something acceptable in the early 20th century, but is absolutely repugnant in the early 21st century. Both the prosecutor and the judge cited his race as the basis of the prosecution . . . . We recognize that the Department of Justice can't be in the business of expunging all historic injustices. But, because of Johnson's historic significance and prominence, we thought his was an appropriate case that a pardon would make amends for the past . . . Finally, that Johnson was a great man, the first black national sports hero and that his name was largely forgotten. The president can't rewrite history but he can help. He can restore the memory of a great, but forgotten sports hero's history in the national conscience."