Al Gerhardstein
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Alphonse A. Gerhardstein (born 1951) is a
civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...
attorney in
Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
who has been litigating since 1976. While he is best known nationally as lead counsel for James Obergefell in the Supreme Court's
same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...
decision
Obergefell v. Hodges ''Obergefell v. Hodges'', ( ), is a landmark LGBT rights case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protect ...
, he has been an advocate on behalf of prisoners, victims of
police misconduct Police misconduct refers to inappropriate conduct and illegal actions taken by police officers in connection with their official duties. Types of misconduct include among others: coerced false confession, intimidation, false arrest, false impri ...
and women seeking
reproductive freedom Reproductive rights are legal rights and freedoms relating to reproduction and reproductive health that vary amongst countries around the world. The World Health Organization defines reproductive rights as follows: Reproductive rights rest on ...
throughout his career, in addition to
LGBTQ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is ...
causes like same-sex marriage. He has recovered millions of dollars and secured substantial reforms for victims of official misconduct. He is also the founder of the Ohio Justice and Policy Center, a nonprofit agency that advocates and litigates for
criminal justice reform Criminal justice reform addresses structural issues in criminal justice systems such as racial profiling, police brutality, overcriminalization, mass incarceration, and recidivism. Criminal justice reform can take place at any point where the cr ...
.


Early life

Gerhardstein was born in Cleveland, Ohio to Carolyn and Richard Gerhardstein. His father was the manager of a commercial chicken farm for over ten years, then lost both his job and the pension he had been promised. In an interview on WCET, the local Cincinnati PBS affiliate, Gerhardstein described how this experience and its effect on his family deeply impressed upon him the plight of powerless individuals in the face of powerful corporations. He attended
Beloit College Beloit College is a private liberal arts college in Beloit, Wisconsin. Founded in 1846, when Wisconsin was still a territory, it is the state's oldest continuously operated college. It is a member of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest and h ...
, class of '73, where he met and married Mimi Gingold, the daughter of juvenile court judge Archie Gingold of St. Paul, Minnesota. He attended
New York University School of Law New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1835, it is the oldest law school in New York City and the oldest surviving law school in N ...
on a Root-Tilden public interest scholarship and earned his Juris Doctor in 1976.


Legal career

Gerhardstein began his legal career as a Reginald Heber Smith Fellow at the Legal Aid Society of
Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
, Ohio. After two years, he joined Robert Laufman, a leading civil rights attorney, practicing primarily in the areas of employment discrimination, police misconduct and prisoner rights. After Laufman's retirement in 2004, Jennifer Branch joined him as a partner and the firm became Gerhardstein and Branch, LPA. The firm described its mission as litigating "causes, not cases." Jennifer Branch was elected as a common pleas judge in Hamilton County Ohio in 2020 and Gerhardstein then merged his firm with another to create Friedman, Gilbert and Gerhardstein.


Civil rights practice


Prisoner rights

Gerhardstein commented in a Frontline interview that prisoners have no political base, only the power of the courts to redress grievances. He has sought to redress those grievances through litigation. In 1994, Gerhardstein was named lead counsel in a
class action A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class actio ...
against the state officers, administrators and staff of the
Southern Ohio Correctional Facility The Southern Ohio Correctional Facility (commonly referred to as Lucasville) is a maximum security prison located just outside Lucasville in Scioto County, Ohio. The prison was constructed in 1972. As of 2022, the warden is Donald Redwood. The ...
in
Lucasville, Ohio Lucasville is a census-designated place (CDP) in Scioto County, Ohio, United States. The population was 2,757 at the 2010 census. Lucasville is the location of the Scioto County Fairgrounds. The Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, Ohio's one o ...
, on behalf of inmate victims of the riot that occurred there in 1993. The plaintiffs were awarded a record $4.1 million as part of a class action settlement that included sweeping reforms of the practices and procedures at that maximum security prison. Gerhardstein and fellow attorney Robert Newman had previously sued the state of Ohio for cruel and unusual punishment on behalf of a class of mentally ill prisoners. After filing the legal action, they worked with the defendant Director of the Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections to address the underlying problems. That collaboration resulted in a court enforced consent decree providing for reforms based on a treatment-oriented approach to mentally ill inmates in all Ohio state prisons. He also filed a class action challenging the level of medical and dental services provided for inmates by the
Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The st ...
in 2003. That challenge resulted in a settlement agreement including a five-year supervised plan to substantially improve those services. From 2008–2015, Gerhardstein worked with the Children's Law Center of
Covington, Kentucky Covington is a home rule-class city in Kenton County, Kentucky, United States, located at the confluence of the Ohio and Licking Rivers. Cincinnati, Ohio, lies to its immediate north across the Ohio and Newport, to its east across the Licking ...
and achieved significant reforms in the Ohio juvenile justice system by entering into an agreed order in cooperation with the defendant administrators of the Ohio Department of Youth Services on behalf of incarcerated juveniles. That agreement eventually resulted in a dramatic reduction of the inmate population, closure of several juvenile prisons, elimination of solitary confinement and improved mental health, educational and recreational services for the children in the juvenile detention facilities throughout the state. In 1997 he founded the Ohio Justice and Policy Center which continues to pursue reforms for incarcerated people in Ohio.


Police misconduct

"There are lots of different strategies that don't rely on arresting black people and feeding more mass incarceration, and that's what we've worked so hard on." Gerhardstein is quoted as saying in an article published in
The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
. In 2001, Gerhardstein and co-counsel filed a class action on behalf of the Cincinnati Black United Front and Ohio ACLU challenging the use of excessive force and racial profiling by the Cincinnati Police Department. The case was resolved through a collaborative plan, a mediation process that was markedly different from the approach taken in similar actions filed in other jurisdictions. Gerhardstein explained, " went to court because we've tracked 30 years of promises by the city. We need to have a set of promises that are enforceable." One month after that action was filed, an unarmed black teenager was shot and killed by a Cincinnati police officer, sparking riots throughout the city. Continuing his approach to resolve serious underlying systemic problems, Gerhardstein participated along with city officials, the police union, and citizens in the creation of a collaborative agreement that established wide reaching reforms in the department that has become a model for other jurisdictions. In 2022 the City of Cincinnati celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Collaborative Agreement. One of Gerhardstein's areas of focus has been taser reform. He has litigated cases and published a
white paper A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. A white pape ...
seeking policies and training that require officers to avoid chest shots and other tactics that increase the risk of injury. The local county sheriff's association in Hamilton County, Ohio responded to the white paper, opening a valuable local dialogue. Significant federal court decisions involving tasers include ''Goodwin'', ''Brown'' (two cases challenging chest shots), and ''Peabody'' (challenging taser discharge at man on top of fence). In 2021 Gerhardstein secured significant court enforceable reforms at the Cincinnati Emergency Communications Center and a six million dollar settlement for the family of Kyle Plush, a teenager who had been trapped in his family van, called 911 twice and was not located or rescued before his death. Under the five year agreement an expert team will work with the City of Cincinnati to upgrade their 911 services and police response.


Reproductive freedom

Gerhardstein represented the Planned Parenthood affiliate in Cincinnati and other Ohio abortion providers between 1985 and 2020. After the Planned Parenthood clinic was firebombed in December, 1985, he secured an order requiring the hundreds of protesters to respect the women arriving as patients at the temporary clinic and to respect their right of access. His lawsuits challenged numerous Ohio laws restricting
abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...
and many were held to be unconstitutional.


LGBT rights

Gerhardstein has also been an active advocate for the rights of the LGBT community. His work is chronicled in Episode 5 of Amend: The Fight for America and "Love Wins." Starting in 1994 Gerhardstein sued the city of Cincinnati unsuccessfully for five years in an effort to strike down an infamous Cincinnati Charter provision that prohibited the enactment of any law that protected the gay community. After the Supreme Court's decision in
Romer v. Evans ''Romer v. Evans'', 517 U.S. 620 (1996), is a landmark United States Supreme Court case dealing with sexual orientation and state laws.. It was the first Supreme Court case to address gay rights since ''Bowers v. Hardwick'' (1986),. when the C ...
, striking down a Colorado law with almost identical language to that in the Cincinnati Charter, the case was remanded to the
Sixth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (in case citations, 6th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * Eastern District of Kentucky * Western District of K ...
to be considered in light of the new precedent. However, the Sixth Circuit upheld the charter amendment for the second time, and it stood until overturned by Cincinnati voters in 2004. He and his law partner, Jennifer Branch, have also represented individual gay and transgender persons in employment discrimination actions. An opportunity to further the cause of gay rights arrived when Gerhardstein was first introduced to James Obergefell and his dying husband, John Arthur, in 2013. He met with them and explained that
Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
would not recognize their Maryland same-sex marriage. As a result, when he died, the
death certificate A death certificate is either a legal document issued by a medical practitioner which states when a person died, or a document issued by a government civil registration office, that declares the date, location and cause of a person's death, as ...
for John would state that he was a single person with no surviving spouse. Changing that would require immediate legal action against the state. Obergefell said that Al was the perfect attorney for them and is unsure they would have gone forward with anyone else. Gerhardstein filed suit in federal court seeking an emergency injunction prohibiting the state of Ohio from issuing a death certificate for John that listed the deceased as single and without a surviving spouse. U.S. District Judge Timothy Black decided in their favor, holding that " der the Constitution of the United States, Ohio must recognize on Ohio death certificates valid same-sex marriages from other states." Other rulings soon followed. A similar case was decided in favor of married same-sex parents who had given birth following in-vitro conception and who adopted children and wanted both parents listed on their children's
birth certificate A birth certificate is a vital record that documents the birth of a person. The term "birth certificate" can refer to either the original document certifying the circumstances of the birth or to a certified copy of or representation of the ensui ...
s. The state of Ohio appealed to the
Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (in case citations, 6th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * Eastern District of Kentucky * Western District of K ...
. Those cases were consolidated with others from district courts within the Sixth Circuit that were more broadly and directly challenging gay marriage bans. The appellate court reversed the trial courts' decisions and held that states could indeed ban same-sex marriage. Ultimately, Gerhardstein and other lawyers whose cases had been consolidated petitioned the
United States Supreme Court 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 ...
for a hearing, which was granted. Gerhardstein observed in a televised interview in April, 2015, that this was a civics lesson for the country that core constitutional principles are not up to the majority to decide. On June 26, 2015 the Court announced its historic decision in ''
Obergefell v. Hodges ''Obergefell v. Hodges'', ( ), is a landmark LGBT rights case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protect ...
'' that established same-sex marriage, finding that same-sex couples had a
constitutional right A constitutional right can be a prerogative or a duty, a power or a restraint of power, recognized and established by a sovereign state or union of states. Constitutional rights may be expressly stipulated in a national constitution, or they may ...
to marry in all fifty states. That decision has been called "the sweetest victory in Al's career."


Referenced cases

''In re Southern Ohio Correctional Facility'', 173 F.R.D. 205 (S.D. Ohio 1997). ''Fussel et al. v. Wilkinson'', Case No. 1-03-CV-704, 2005 WL 3132321, (S.D. Ohio Nov. 22, 2005). ''Dunn v. Voinovich'', Case No. C1-93-0166 (S.D. Ohio 2000). ''S.H. v. Taft'', No. 2:04-cv-1206, 2007 WL 1989753 (S.D. Ohio July 9, 2007). ''In re Cincinnati Policing'', 209 F.R.D. 395 (S.D. Ohio 2002). ''Goodwin v. City of Painesville,'' 781 F.3d 314 (6th Cir. 2015). ''Brown v. Chapman'', 814 F.3d 447 (6th Cir. 2016). ''Peabody v. Perry Twp., Ohio'', No. 2:10-cv-1078, 2013 WL 1327026 (S.D. Ohio 2013). ''Planned Parenthood Ass'n. of Cinti., Inc. v. Project Jericho'', 556 N.E.2d 157 (Ohio St. 1990). ''Women’s Medical Professional Corp v. Taft'', 114 F. Supp. 2d 664 (S.D. Ohio 2000). ''Cincinnati Women’s Services v. Taft'', 468 F.3d 361 (6th Cir. 2006). ''Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region v. Hodges,'' USDC, SDOH, Case No. 2:15-cv-3079. ''Glover v. Williamsburg Local School Dist. Bd. of Educ''., 20 F.Supp.2d 1160 (S.D. Ohio 1998). ''Barnes v. City of Cincinnati'', 401 F.3d 729 (6th Cir. 2005). ''Obergefell v. Kasich'', No. 13-cv-501, 2013 WL 3814262 (S.D. Ohio July 22, 2013). ''DeBoer v. Snyder'', 772 F.3d 388 (6th Cir. 2014). ''Obergefell v. Hodges'', 135 S.Ct. 2584, 192 L.Ed.2d 609 (2015). ''Plush v. City of Cincinnati et al'', WL 7383257 (Ohio App 2020).


Publications*

Alphonse Gerhardstein, ''Making a Buck While Making a Difference,'' 21 Michigan Journal of Race & Law 251 (2016). Alphonse Gerhardstein & David Krings, ''Uncomfortably True, Police Misconduct Cases, Keys to Appropriate Methods of Resolution'', 10 Public Management (2012). Alphonse Gerhardstein, ''Can Effective Apology Emerge Through Litigation?'' 72 Law and Contemporary Problems No. 2, Spring 2009. Alphonse Gerhardstein, ''Leveraging Maximum Reform While Enforcing Minimum Standards'', XXXVI Fordham Urban Law Journal No. 1, January 2009. Alphonse Gerhardstein, ''A Practitioner’s Guide to Successful Jury Trials on Behalf of Prisoner-Plaintiffs'', 24 Pace Law Rev. No. 2 Spring 2004. Alphonse Gerhardstein, ''PLRA Can Affect Private Practitioner’s Ability to Represent Inmates,'' XIII Correctional Law Reporter 66 (Feb/Mar 2002).


Awards and recognitions

2016 – Holmes-Weatherly Award, Unitarian Universalist Association, Boston, Massachusetts 2016 – Honorary Degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, Meadville Lombard Theological School, Chicago, IL 2016 – Making Democracy Work Award (Joint with wife, Mimi Gingold), League of Women Voters of the Cincinnati Area 2015 – Courage Award, Ohio Association for Justice 2015 – Ally for Equality Award, for support to LGBT Community, Equality Ohio 2014 – Racial Justice Award, YWCA Greater Cincinnati 2014 – Theodor M. Berry Award, Cincinnati Chapter, NAACP 2010 – Courage Award, Ohio Association for Justice 2008 – The Diamond Award for Leadership, Service and Support, Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region 2008 – Jewish National Fund/Judge Carl B. Rubin Legal Society Attorney of the Year 2007 – President's Award, for dedication to community service, civil rights, and to the Sentinels Police Association's Mission, Sentinel Police Association 2005 – Martin Luther King Spirit Award Baptist Minister's Conference, Health Alliance of Cincinnati, UC Medical Center 2003 – Charles P. Taft Civic Gumption Award, Charter Party of Cincinnati 2002 – Wright-Overstreet Award for Community Service, NAACP Cincinnati Chapter 2001 – Outstanding Achievement Award, Cincinnati Women's Political Caucus 1998 – Community Service Award, Stonewall Cincinnati 1995 – Andrew B. Dennison Courageous Advocate Award Potter Stewart Inn of Court


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gerhardstein, Al 1951 births Living people Beloit College alumni New York University School of Law alumni Lawyers from Cleveland Ohio lawyers Jewish American attorneys 21st-century American Jews