U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in a unanimous opinion authored by retired Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, David Souter, affirmed the District Court's decision that literature denying Armenian Genocide will not be included in Massachusetts human rights curriculum. A copy of the decision has been posted for your review.

The Armenian Bar Association had filed an Amicus Curiae Brief in support of the Massachusetts Board of Education, under the guidance of my predecessor, our former Chair Sonya Nersessian. We are grateful for her leadership and relentless efforts . We  are also thankful to our partners who joined our brief: Armenian National Committee of America; Irish Immigration Center; Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action; The Genocide Education Project and the Zoryan Institute.

The ABA would like to address our special and sincere thanks to attorneys Mark Fleming and Rachel Gurvich and the Law Firm of Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering, Hale and Dorr, LLP, for their great work, time and efforts.

We would like to individually thank Kate Nahabetian of ANCA for her contributions and  George Shirinian of the Zoryan Institute for his participation.

Special thanks are due to our own Rights Watch Chair Saro Kerkonian; Former Chair Frank Zerunyan and Genocide Project Chair Prof. Ann Lousin.

ABA would also recognize the efforts of and thank Edward Barshak, Esq., of Sugarman, Rogers, Barshak and Cohen who served as co-counsel on the Amicus Brief.

Additional thanks are also due to the following who have also contributed to this tangible and significant victory: The Armenian Assembly of America; Attorney General of Massachusetts Martha Coakley; Asst. Attorney General William Parker; The International Association of Genocide Scholars; Prof. Erwin Chemerinksy and Arnold Rosenfeld, Esq.

While we celebrate this well deserved and justified legal victory, we must never forget the victims in whose name and honorable memory we all worked.  United, we will always remain vigilant and ready  to successfully face current and future legal challenges.

With my deepest gratitude,
Edvin Minassian
Chair, Armenian Bar Association