Daniel P. Sheehan (born April 9, 1945) is a constitutional and public interest lawyer, public speaker, political activist and educator.

Biography

Over his career, Daniel Sheehan has participated in numerous legal cases of public interest, including the '' Pentagon Papers'' case, the Watergate Break-In case, the ''

Silkwood ''Silkwood'' is a 1983 American biographical drama film directed by Mike Nichols and starring Meryl Streep, Kurt Russell, and Cher. The screenplay by Nora Ephron and Alice Arlen was adapted from the book ''Who Killed Karen Silkwood?'' by ''Rollin ...

'' case, the Greensboro massacre case, the

La Penca bombing The La Penca bombing was a bomb attack carried out in May 30, 1984 at the remote outpost of La Penca, on the Nicaraguan side of the border with Costa Rica, along the San Juan River. It occurred during a press conference convened and conducted by ...

case and others. He established the

Christic Institute The Christic Institute was a public interest law firm founded in 1980 by Daniel Sheehan, his wife Sara Nelson, and their partner, William J. Davis, a Jesuit priest, after the successful conclusion of their work on the ''Silkwood'' case. Based on ...

and the

Romero Institute The Romero Institute is a nonprofit law and public policy center in Santa Cruz, California. The institute has two main projects: the Lakota People's Law Project based in part in the Dakotas, and Greenpower, based in California. History Beginnings ...

, two non-profit public policy centers. Sheehan has spoken publicly about UFOs/alien visitation and has participated in Disclosure Project events. He represents

Luis Elizondo Luis Elizondo is a former U.S. Army Counterintelligence Special Agent and former employee of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence. Later, Elizondo was the Director of Global Security and Special Programs for To the St ...

, the former director of the

Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program The Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) was an unclassified but unpublicized investigatory effort funded by the United States Government to study unidentified flying objects (UFOs) or unexplained aerial phenomena (UAP). The ...

in a case against the US

Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philippin ...

. Since 2015 Sheehan has lectured on American history, politics and the assassination of John F. Kennedy at the

University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California syste ...

. Sheehan is currently Chief Counsel of the Romero Institute, where his focus is the Lakota People's Law Project. Sheehan and The Lakota People's Law Project participated in legal cases related to the

Dakota Access Pipeline protests The Dakota Access Pipeline Protests, also called by the hashtag #NoDAPL, began in April 2016 as a grassroots opposition to the construction of Energy Transfer Partners' Dakota Access Pipeline in the northern United States and ended on Febru ...

. In 2013 Sheehan published ''Daniel Sheehan: The People's Advocate'', a memoir, through

Counterpoint In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...

Publishing. At one time, Sheehan was legal counsel to the Jesuit US national headquarters in Washington, DC.

''Avirgan v. Hull''

In 1986, the Christic Institute filed a $24 million civil suit on behalf of journalists

Tony Avirgan and Martha Honey Tony Avirgan and Martha Honey are a married couple and former journalistic duo who reported on the 1979 Uganda–Tanzania War and Central America in the 1980s. They were unsuccessful plaintiffs in '' Avirgan v. Hull'' (1986), a civil suit alleging ...

stating that various individuals were part of a conspiracy responsible for the

that injured Avirgan. The suit charged the defendants with illegally participating in assassinations, as well as arms and drug trafficking. Among the 30 defendants named were Iran-Contra figures

John K. Singlaub Major General John Kirk Singlaub (July 10, 1921 – January 29, 2022) was a major general in the United States Army, founding member of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and a highly decorated officer in the former Office of Strategic Servi ...

Richard V. Secord Major General Richard Vernon Secord, Retired (born July 6, 1932), is a United States Air Force officer with a notable career in covert operations. Early in his military service, he was a member of the first U.S. aviation detachment sent to the ...

, Albert Hakim, and Robert W. Owen;

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

officials

Thomas Clines Thomas Gregory Clines (August 18, 1928 – July 30, 2013) was a Central Intelligence Agency covert operations officer who was a prominent figure in the Iran-Contra Affair. Background Clines served in the 1950–1953 Korean War, and was awarded th ...

and

Theodore Shackley Theodore George "Ted" Shackley, Jr. (July 16, 1927 – December 9, 2002) was an American CIA officer involved in many important and controversial CIA operations during the 1960s and 1970s. He is one of the most decorated CIA officers. Due to his ...

; Contra leader

Adolfo Calero Adolfo Calero Portocarrero (December 22, 1931 – June 2, 2012) was a Nicaraguan businessman and the leader of the Nicaraguan Democratic Force, the largest rebel group of the Contras, opposing the Sandinista government. Calero was responsibl ...

; Medellin cartel leaders

Pablo Escobar Gaviria Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (; ; 1 December 19492 December 1993) was a Colombian drug lord and narcoterrorist who was the founder and sole leader of the Medellín Cartel. Dubbed "the king of cocaine", Escobar is the wealthiest criminal in ...

and

Jorge Ochoa Vasquez Jorge Luis Ochoa Vásquez (born 30 September 1950) is a Colombian former drug trafficker who was one of the founding members of the notorious Medellín Cartel in the late 1970s. The cartel's key members were Pablo Escobar, Carlos Lehder, José ...

; Costa Rican rancher John Hull; and former mercenary Sam N. Hall. On June 23, 1988, United States federal judge

James Lawrence King James Lawrence King (born December 20, 1927) is a Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, and one of the longest serving federal judges in the United States. Education and car ...

of the

United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida The United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida (in case citations, S.D. Fla. or S.D. Fl.) is the federal United States district court with territorial jurisdiction over the southern part of the state of Florida.. Appeals ...

dismissed the case, stating: "The plaintiffs have made no showing of existence of genuine issues of material fact with respect to either the bombing at La Penca, the threats made to their news sources or threats made to themselves." According to ''The New York Times'', the case was dismissed by King at least in part due to "the fact that the vast majority of the 79 witnesses Mr. Sheehan cites as authorities were either dead, unwilling to testify, fountains of contradictory information or at best one person removed from the facts they were describing." King ordered the Christic Institute to pay $955,000 in

attorneys fees Attorney's fee is a chiefly United States term for compensation for legal services performed by an attorney (lawyer or law firm) for a client, in or out of court. It may be an hourly, flat-rate or contingent fee. Recent studies suggest that when l ...

and $79,500 in court costs. The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the ruling, and the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

let the judgment stand by refusing to hear an additional appeal. The IRS stripped the Institute of its 501(c)(3) nonprofit status after claiming the suit was politically motivated. The fine was levied in accordance with Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure which can penalize lawyers for frivolous lawsuits. In the wake of the dismissal, Christic attorneys and Honey and Avirgan traded accusations over who was to blame for the failure of the case. Avirgan complained that Sheehan had handled matters poorly by chasing unsubstantiated "wild allegations" and conspiracy theories, rather than paying attention to core factual issues.

Berlet, Chip John Foster "Chip" Berlet (; born November 22, 1949) is an American investigative journalist, research analyst, photojournalist, scholar, and activist specializing in the study of extreme right-wing movements in the United States. He also studies ...

"Rightist Influences on the Christic Institute Theories."
In

Political Research Associates Political Research Associates (PRA), formerly Midwest Research, Chicago (1981–87) is a non-profit research group located in Somerville, Massachusetts. Mission PRA studies the U.S. political right wing, as well as white supremacists, and para ...

(1990).

Works

Books

''People's Advocate: The Life and Legal History of America's Most Fearless Public Interest Lawyer''.
Berkeley, Calif.:

(2013). .

Book contributions

Introduction Introduction, The Introduction, Intro, or The Intro may refer to: General use * Introduction (music), an opening section of a piece of music * Introduction (writing), a beginning section to a book, article or essay which states its purpose and g ...

to ''Shadowplay: The Secret Team'', by Alan Moore and Bill Sienkiewicz. Based on the lawsuit filed by the

. Forestville, Calif.:

Eclipse Books Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book specialty store market. It was ...

(1989). ** Published in ''Brought to Light: Thirty Years of Drug Smuggling, Arms Deals, and Covert Action'', a double-feature

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

edited by Joyce Brabner. The second story is ''Flashpoint: The La Penca Bombing'', documented by

Martha Honey Martha (Hebrew: מָרְתָא‎) is a biblical figure described in the Gospels of Luke and John. Together with her siblings Lazarus and Mary of Bethany, she is described as living in the village of Bethany near Jerusalem. She was witness to J ...

and

Tony Avirgan Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...

and adapted by Joyce Brabner and

Tom Yeates Thomas Yeates (born January 19, 1955) is an American comic strip and comic book artist best known for illustrating the comic strips ''Prince Valiant'' and ''Zorro'' and for working on characters created by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Career Thomas Yea ...

, with an

introduction Introduction, The Introduction, Intro, or The Intro may refer to: General use * Introduction (music), an opening section of a piece of music * Introduction (writing), a beginning section to a book, article or essay which states its purpose and g ...

by Jonathan V. Marshall.

Transcripts

* ''Assault on Nicaragua: The Untold Story of the "Secret War"—Speeches by Daniel Sheehan and Daniel Ortega''. San Francisco: Walnut Pub. Co. (1987). . Edited with introduction by Rod Holt. ** "The Secret Team Behind the Iran-Contra Scandal." Piedmont, California (September 4, 1987). Remarks at a casual after-dinner gathering of friends and supporters of the

. Sheehan spoke earlier that day at a gathering of leaders of organized labor in San Francisco. pp. 16-54. ** "A Discussion with Daniel Sheehan and Sarah Nelson." Los Angeles, California (February 1, 1987). pp. 55-78.

Audio recordings

* ''Contragate: The Secret Team'', with the

. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Other Americas Radio (1987). .

References

External links

*
''Curriculum vitae''

Lakota People's Law Project

at Spartacus Educational {{DEFAULTSORT:Sheehan, Daniel Date of birth missing (living people) Living people American educators American lawyers Harvard Divinity School alumni Harvard Law School alumni Harvard College alumni American conspiracy theorists 1945 births