A group of legal luminaries, attorneys and judges alike, gathered early in November to honor retired Magistrate Judge Jonathan Lebedoff as he received the 16th annual Earl Larson Award, which annually honors a member of the Minnesota legal profession who has excelled in commitment to preserving civil liberties. Judge Lebedoff's work as a young attorney, his rulings from the bench and his service on the ACLU-MN board of directors were all shaped by his belief in the importance of civil liberties.
As always true to his modest nature, Judge Lebedoff deflected credit for his achievements from himself when he said, "I was lucky enough to have parents who were sensitive and caring, wise in all meaningful ways, who set a standard for decency that I've tried to follow and demonstrated a commitment to community service that I can't match."
When speaking of his feelings for the organization, Judge Lebedoff said, "The Civil Liberties Union...also, on occasion, took positions that they knew were consistent with civil liberties, but which offended some of their core constituency. They've never wavered in doing what they believed to be the right thing, even if in the short term it might cost them financially or otherwise."
In choosing Judge Lebedoff for the Earl Larson Award, the ACLU honors him for never wavering from doing what he believed to be the right thing.
