Pamela R. Metzger ’87

On constitutional rights and the need for public defenders

"We have been living fora long time with a verypunitive, regressive approachto criminal justicethat doesn't add to thenet social good. We're still in the middle of an experiment. The idea put forth in Gideon v. Wainwright that people have a right to effective counsel is less than 50 years old. That right is grotesquely underfunded all across the country. New Orleans is merely Exhibit A."

"Because public defenders align themselves withthe most despised, there'sa tragic misperceptionthat they stand betweenthe citizenry and justice.

In reality, they stand between the citizenry and the absolute, awesome and terrifying power of the government."

"When you have a public defender who canbarely manage to get to court for every court appearance, clients are processed, notrepresented."

"When I came to Tulane I wanted to see our criminal defense clinic become a leader incommunity building and individual rights within the context of criminal reform and the remarkable gap between the haves and have-nots. What I didn't know before I came—maybe not until after Katrina—is how badly we were failing to deliver fundamental constitutional rights."

"In the last two years my focus hasshrunk to an appallingly provincial level. After leaving my home in New Orleans, evacuating to Atlanta, then commuting back and forth to Tulane, I found that if it didn't have to do with Katrina, I couldn't understand it."

"As much as Katrina put me in touch with a lot of what's wrongwith government in this country, it restored my faith in Americanpeople. The day I got to Atlanta some guy leaned on his horn to get my attention. He saw my Louisiana license plate and asked if there was anything he could do."

"Dartmouth and I had a somewhat troubled relationship. I like to tell people I learned to play hardball there. I also learned to integrate the world around me with my studies. Thinking about social issues was a very important part of my education."

"After a few months as a Senior Fellow I realized that the writinglife was probably not going to be the one for me. I need more interaction and, frankly, more deadlines."

"When I had to get up in front of about 1,000 people and arguefor starting a women's resource center at Dartmouth, Ithought, 'I want to do this all the time. I like this!'"

"There is no more American idea than keeping your governmentto its burden of proof and saying that individual rightsoutweigh governmental power and private interests. The erosion of public defense is an abomination of the ideals of our Founders. Its un-American."

"On October 31, 2006, I had a man released who'd been in jail since since before Katrina—16 months total—without ever coming to court or hearing from a lawyer."

"Maybe putting people in jail reflects a fundamental lack of faith about our ability as a society to create community. Does it make sense to imprison nonviolent offenders when we don't have schools for our children?"

"If you were to look at the people in New Orleans jails when Katrina hit, you'd be stunned by the thousands imprisoned for low-level misdemeanors or because they hadn't paid fines on time."

"What I have seen Tulane law students do tolocate and defend those unfairly imprisonedhas been incredible. It's amazing to see students coming here not just to learn about the law but because they want to make a difference in New Orleans."

"New Orleans, as it moves into the post-Katrina future, will be in the forefront of re-imaging justice."

CAREER: Associate professor of law and director of Criminal Law Clinic, Tulane University Law School, New Orleans, 2001 to present; edits clinical law blog; visiting professor and director, Women in Prison Project, Washington & Lee Law School, Lexington, Virginia, 1998 to 2001; private practice, 1995 to 1998; Federal Defender's Office, New York City, 1991 to 1995 NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS: Has focused on right-to-counsel issues and defense of battered women; 2007 Shanara Gilbert Award for Excellence in Teaching from the American Association of Law School Section on Clinical Legal Education; 2007 Clinical Legal Education Award for Excellence in Public Service, awarded by the Clinical Legal Education Association. As an activist at Dartmouth, she lived in one of the 1986 shanties constructed to protest College investments in South Africa EDUCATION: A.B., English; J.D., New York University, 1991 FAMILY: Married to David B. Levitt; mother of Cole, 9, and Phoebe, 5; daughter of Nathan Metzger III '56, Tu'57