Have You Met Rutgers-Newark?

Frank Askin is one of the nation's leading experts on civil liberties.

In 1970 Askin established the Constitutional Litigation Clinic as part of the curriculum at Rutgers School of Law-Newark, and he remains extremely involved with the clinic, which has won national recognition for its work defending civil liberties.

Under his guidance, the clinic litigated the first police surveillance cases in the nation; battled the FBI over the investigation and maintenance of files on two precocious New Jersey high school students who corresponded with "suspicious" individuals; defended affirmative action programs before the United States Supreme Court; challenged the New Jersey State Police for stopping and searching "long-haired travelers" on the  state's highways; argued for the right of the homeless to vote and to have access to public library facilities; and protected the right of grassroots advocacy groups to take their messages door-to-door and to privately owned shopping malls.

Askin has been a member of the National Board of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) since 1969 and has been one of the ACLU's four general counsels since 1976. His memoir, Defending Rights: A Life in Law and Politics, was published in 1997 by Humanities Press. He is listed in Woodward & White's Best Lawyers in America.

Askin is a frequent commentator on public policy issues; his recent writings can be found at www.frankaskin.rutgers.edu.

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