Abram Chayes may be proof that patriotism isn`t blind loyalty. He`s a red-white-and-blue North Side native who fought for his country and defended it as a big-time government attorney. He now accuses it of breaking international law.
Chayes, 62, a Senn High School graduate and eminent Harvard Law School professor, is impetuously representing Nicaragua in a battle against the United States at the World Court in The Hague.
”I`ve gotten relatively little flak from colleagues and others,” the cigar-smoking academic said during a visit last week to address the newly founded Lawyers Committee on Central America. ”There is a duty for the United States to account for its actions, and Nicaragua is entitled to a lawyer.”
At issue is Nicaragua`s claim that the Reagan administration has violated the sovereignty of the elected Sandinista government by providing aid to the Contras and mining Nicaraguan ports. In all, more than 2,000 civilian deaths are traced by Nicaragua to American actions.
Chayes is a liberal Democrat who fought in both the European and Pacific theaters during World War II and returned to rank first in his class at Harvard Law School. He was a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter and, in the early 1960s, was chief legal adviser to the U.S. State Department, where his picture hangs.
It was a former student who put him in contact with the Nicaraguan government, which filed its lawsuit before the World Court in April, 1984. What followed was truly obscure legal skirmishing and, some would argue, a hypocritical, and perhaps childish, decision by President Reagan.
The skirmishing involved a technicality. Had Nicaragua actually filed the required papers long ago and formally accepted the court`s jurisdiction in such matters? The U.S., represented by a State Department lawyer who is also a former Chayes student, said no. Nicaragua said balderdash and argued that, even if the correct papers were lost along the way, other declarations and actions, including membership in the United Nations, made clear its support for the court.
The court decided against the U.S. This prompted the Reagan administration to take a hike from the proceedings, saying so long to a body from which the U.S. has frequently sought solace and aid. Remember the hostage mess at the embassy in Iran and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan? They are among the events that caused the U.S. to deride other nations for breaking international law.
Anthony D`Amato, an internatonal-law specialist at Northwestern Law School, finds a simple explanation for the U.S. turnabout. ”We knew we had a loser, so we walked out of the proceedings. We blew up this one technicality because we had a loser on the merits.”
Chayes makes clear that ”I would not have taken this if I thought the Nicaraguan regime was like Hitler or Gorbachev.” He admits the recent tour by Nicaraguan leader Daniel Ortega to Moscow and other communist nations ”hasn`t made my argument any easier.” But the key to his involvement, for which he is paid ”standard rates” by Nicaragua, ”was the apparent feeling in the administration that it wasn`t accountable, that the U.S. would simply do what it thought best.”
”When the Russians shoot down a plane, or Khomeini takes over an embassy, we say it violates international law. So, if we hold ourselves to be law-abiding, we have to account for our actions.”
With the jurisdictional flap over, the question is whether the U.S. is liable for deaths and damages. Chayes and colleagues filed their brief April 30. The U.S. apparently won`t file a response. Nicaragua seeks a cease-and-desist order against the U.S., along with $370 million in actual damages, plus money for the deaths of civilians and for our actions` general impact on that nation`s beleaguered economy.
Don`t hold your breath waiting for American payments. Even if the court finds the U.S. liable, the ultimate enforcement body of court decisions is the UN Security Council. The U.S. has veto power over any council decision. So bets can be placed on the outcome.
”Though I don`t expect Reagan to sign a check for the amount of any judgment, I think claims like this have to be ultimately satisfied in some way,” said Chayes. ”In the long run, it has to be taken care of. In the real world, the passions of the moment change.”
As for U.S. policy in the area, he makes a thought-provoking final point. ”Our general approch is self-defeating,” he said. ”When we move in a heavy-handed way, especially in regard to the Marxist elements in Nicaragua, it plays into their hands. It becomes an excuse for their failures and for their going to the Russians for help.”
MILDLY WHACKED IN THE WALLET
The federal appeals court has affirmed a $250 fine against attorney Stephen Komie imposed by District Judge Susan Getzendanner. Komie suffered from a severe case of babbling mouth. Despite a warning to shut up, he asked one question too many and got zapped. Elsewhere, District Judge Prentice Marshall fined criminal defense lawyer Ronald Clark $500 for arriving 20 minutes late for a chop-shop trial involving more than a dozen other lawyers. ”Have you ever heard of Alexander Graham Bell, sir?” Marshall thundered. Hey, maybe the guy was late because he was studying one of those new 14-page monthly phone bills.
BAR GIVES LANE VOTE OF CONFIDENCE
Having raised doubts about whether Chicago attorney Fred Lane should take over as boss of the Illinois State Bar Association, we dutifully report that the group`s board of governors disagrees. Lane is among the attorneys whom Circuit Judge Reginald Holzer is accused of hitting up for loans and payments in an indictment brought by the federal government. Lane went over the matter with the board last week, telling them about the cases he had before the judge, and it unanimously expressed ”complete confidence.” Lane is set to be sworn in June 30 and, sometime during his reign, the board can come to Chicago and watch him testify about a $2,500 loan that was never repaid.
HIGH-COURT COMEDY GETS MIXED REVIEWS
Never staid, Julius Lucius Echeles just perked up a few ears at the U.S. Supreme Court. Admittedly, laugh-a-minute Chief Justice Warren Burger was less than impressed. Echeles was before the court on a question of jurisdiction relating to the case of a former Chicago firefighter convicted of arson and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Echeles opened by noting that the Supreme Court crier, at the start of each session, announces, ”God save the United States and this honorable court.” Echeles asked the justices, ”Why don`t we invoke the gods to help my defendant, who needs it the most?” He reports that Sandra Day O`Connor smiled, apparent evidence that Washington Redskins running back John Riggins had some effect when he told her to ”lighten up, Sandy baby” at a much-publicized Washington dinner. Other justices looked up with interest. Burger? ”He just stared at me,” reported Echeles. Lighten up, Warren baby.
IT`S HOT TIMES IN PATENT WORLD
Here`s one the popular press somehow missed last week: Huang Kunyi, Xu Daole, Fang Yangchung, Liu Gushu and Ma Lianyuan were all in Chicago. This was cause for considerable excitement among the generally dour members of the Patent Law Association of Chicago, headed by Jack Halvorsen, because the visitors are among the key honchos when it comes to getting patents and trademarks in the Peoples Republic of China. China has put into place new trademark and patent laws, and just signed the big international agreement that guarantees reciprocity. Among the most interested was John Lanahan, trademark counsel for Des Plaines-based Signal Specialties Chemicals Group, probably the No. 1 American licensor of technologies in China.
