ME- BATTLING INJUSTICE

4-27-2009 Maine:

AUGUSTA -- James E. Mitchell represents 15 people, all known as John Doe, who are bucking the requirements of the state's Sex Offender Registry Act.
"It wasn't something I searched out," he said. "I thought what I saw was unfair."

In the state court case, Mitchell challenges the extent and the retroactivity of the law's lifetime registration requirement.

Injustice rankles the 67-year-old attorney from Vassalboro who also holds the part-time post of judge of probate in Kennebec County.

Mitchell, who once challenged the U.S. Immigration & Naturalization Service to get a Cambodian and Vietnamese family released from an immigration jail in Bangkok, will be recognized formally for his support of civil liberties at the American Civil Liberties Union's annual Scolnik Dinner, 6:30 p.m. May 6 at the Harraseeket Inn in Freeport.

The president of the ACLU, Susan Herman, a centennial professor of law at Brooklyn Law School, will be the featured speaker at the dinner. Herman wrote two books and numerous articles on civil liberties issues, including the USA Patriot Act, socioeconomic rights and equality, and the First Amendment, according to an announcement about the dinner.

"I was surprised" to be recognized, Mitchell said in an interview at his law office at Winthrop and Sewall streets. "It wasn't something I expected or campaigned for. It's quite an honor to be chosen by that group. I have a high regard for them and their practice of standing up for people who would otherwise have no one on their side."

Mitchell and Jed Davis have been partners in the law firm Mitchell & Davis since 1977, and there are two other Mitchell attorneys associated with the firm: Mitchell's daughter, Emily Mitchell; and Mitchell's wife, Elizabeth "Libby" Mitchell, who is president of the Maine Senate.

Mitchell's son, Charlie Mitchell, also is an attorney who now works as a lobbyist for the Maine Community College System. He was previously national security counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union in Washington, D.C., and currently serves on the board of the Maine Civil Liberties Union.

"I was not on the nominating committee, but I voted for him," Charlie Mitchell said.

The Scolnik Dinner is named for Maine Civil Liberties Union founder, former Maine Supreme Court Justice Louis Scolnik. Scolnik himself is expected at the dinner, according to a staffer at the office of the Maine Civil Liberties Union.

Mitchell came to Maine from his native Arkansas to serve as federal-state coordinator in the administration of then-Gov. Kenneth Curtis and also served as chairman and director of the Maine State Housing Authority.

Years later, his wife held the same housing authority post.

Mitchell has been probate judge in Kennebec County -- an elective post -- since January 1979.

"We oversee people and property who can't oversee themselves," Mitchell said. The court generally deals with guardianship, adoptions, estates and trusts.

The Mitchells have four grown children and six grandchildren. ..News Source.. by BETTY ADAMS, Staff Writer