Thomas Geoghegan

{{Infobox writer

| name = Thomas H. Geoghegan

| honorific-prefix =

| image = Thomas Geoghegan in 2009.jpg

| caption = Geoghegan in 2009

| birth_name = Tom Geoghegan

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1949|01|22}}

| birth_place = Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.

| alma_mater = Harvard University, Harvard Law School

| death_date =

| death_place =

| occupation = Attorney, Author

| nationality =

| genre = Social sciences

| spouse =

| religion =

| website = {{URL|http://www.dsgchicago.com}}

}}

Thomas H. Geoghegan ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɡ|eɪ|ɡ|ən}} {{respell|GAY|gən}};Kathy G. [http://thegspot.typepad.com/blog/2009/01/mr-geoghegan-goes-to-washington.html Mr. Geoghegan Goes to Washington] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090116150553/http://thegspot.typepad.com/blog/2009/01/mr-geoghegan-goes-to-washington.html |date=2009-01-16 }} The G Spot, January 6, 2009 born January 22, 1949, in Cincinnati, Ohio) is an American labor lawyer and author based in Chicago.

He has represented several unions and union groups, and written six books on labor unions, law, politics and his personal experiences. He has written for The New Republic magazine and contributed to several newspapers, and had commentaries on a number of radio and TV stations. Geoghegan ran in the Democratic primary for the Illinois's 5th congressional district in 2009[http://www.geogheganforcongress.com/ Tom Geoghegan for Congress - Official Campaign Website] and came in a three-way tie for third.

Life and work

In 1967, Geoghegan graduated from St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati.{{cite mailing list|title=Volume VI, Issue 8|last=Motz|first=Mark D.|mailing-list=St. Xavier High School E-News|date=2009-01-29|access-date=2009-01-29|url=http://www.stxavier.org/s/106/stxavier.aspx?pgid=1113}}{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} He later graduated from Harvard University and Harvard Law School.{{cite web|title=Thomas H. Geoghegan|publisher=Despres, Schwartz and Geoghegan, Ltd.|location=Chicago|accessdate=April 24, 2023|url=https://dsgchicago.com/attorneys/attorney-thomas-geoghegan/}} Geoghegan has represented the United Mine Workers, Teamsters for a Democratic Union, and currently works at [http://www.dsgchicago.com Despres, Schwartz and Geoghegan Ltd.]. He has been a staff writer and contributing writer to The New Republic and his work has also appeared in the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, Dissent, The American Prospect, The Nation, and Harper's Magazine. His commentary has been featured on National Public Radio, Nightline, The Today Show, CBS Sunday Morning, CNN, CNBC, and PBS's WTTW-11.

Geoghegan was a Democratic candidate for Rahm Emanuel's seat in 2009. The primary for the special election took place on March 3, 2009, and was won by Mike Quigley. The general election was won by Quigley on April 7, 2009.AP, [http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-il-congressionalseat,0,7910612.story Ill. GOP: Special vote chance to replace senator]{{Dead link|date=June 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=no }} Chicago Tribune, January 5, 2009

Views

In his books, articles and commentaries, Geoghegan has urged a number of reforms to increase America's commitment to democracy at home and abroad. Geoghegan supports the National Popular Vote compact for presidential electionssomething the states of Maine and Nebraska have signed to. on the grounds that it would increase electoral responsiveness, transparency and accountability.See You in Court

He urges a reform of the redistricting of US congressional districts, arguing that currently over 90% of Congressional seats are "safe", such that no challenger has a serious chance of unseating an incumbent and this discourages voter participation. He argues against the filibuster in the US Senate as undemocratic and unconstitutional under current rules. Less than 9% of the population resides in 20 states representing 40% of the seats in the Senate.In the January 11, 2010, New York Times op-ed article, Geoghegan argues that since the vice-president's job is to vote in the Senate when the Senate is equally divided and since a filibuster under revised Senate Rule 22 removes the vice-president's ability to make that vote, it is an unconstitutional rule. He also argues that the Article requirement for just a bare majority to form a quorum supermajorities were expressly disapproved by the Founders. He says In Federalist 75, Hamilton dismissed a supermajority rule for a quorum thus: "All provisions which require more than a majority of any body to its resolutions have a direct tendency to embarrass the operation of government and an indirect one to subject the sense of the majority to that of the minority." Geoghegan continues, It would be illogical to preclude a supermajority {for a...} quorum while allowing it on an ad hoc basis any time a minority wanted to block a vote. In regards to America's economy and quality of life, Geoghegan argues that Germany and other northern European countries "do both capitalism and socialism better than we do."Were you Born on the Wrong Continent? Thomas Geoghegan, 2010.{{cite web | url=http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/148501 | title=Why Germany Has It So Good -- and Why America Is Going Down the Drain | author=Terrence McNally | work=alternet.org | publisher=AlterNet | date=October 14, 2010 | access-date=October 14, 2010 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101017124949/http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/148501 | archive-date=October 17, 2010 }}

Personal life

Geoghegan is Catholic.{{Cite web |last=Geoghegan |first=Thomas |date=2024-04-08 |title=God or Trump? |url=https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/god-or-trump |access-date=2024-06-03 |website=Commonweal Magazine |language=en}}

Works

1991: Which Side Are You On?: Trying to Be For Labor When It's Flat On Its Back (FSG), {{ISBN|0-374-28919-0}}
1998: The Secret Lives of Citizens: Pursuing the Promise of American Life (Pantheon Books), {{ISBN|0-679-42153-X}}
2002: In America's Court: How a Civil Lawyer Who Likes to Settle Stumbled into a Criminal Trial (New Press), {{ISBN|1-56584-732-6}}
2005: The Law in Shambles (Prickly Paradigm), {{ISBN|0-9728196-9-X}}
2007: See You in Court: How the Right Made America a Lawsuit Nation (New Press), {{ISBN|978-1-59558-099-3}}
2010: Were you Born on the Wrong Continent?
2011: [https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304186404576388062830875084 Boeing's Threat to American Enterprise] (WSJ)
2014: Only One Thing Can Save Us: Why America Needs a New Kind of Labor Movement (New Press), {{ISBN|978-1-59558-836-4}}

References

External links

[http://www.democracynow.org/2009/3/24/thomas_geoghegan_on_infinite_debt_how “Infinite Debt: How Unlimited Interest Rates Destroyed the Economy"] on Democracynow.org, March 24, 2009
[http://www.geogheganforcongress.com Tom Geoghegan for U.S. Congress] official campaign website
{{CongLinks | congbio= | votesmart=110929 | fec= | congress= }}
David Sirota, [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/24/EDPS11UVP9.DTL Six little words] San Francisco Chronicle, July 25, 2008
Kathy G. [https://web.archive.org/web/20090131120907/http://thegspot.typepad.com/blog/2008/07/tom-geoghegan-m.html Tom Geoghegan, mensch and hero] The G Spot, July 31, 2008
James Fallows [http://jamesfallows.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/01/tom_geoghegan_for_congress.php Tom Geoghegan for Congress] The Atlantic, January 4, 2009
[http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=aa27017a-c52f-495c-bcdf-1286d0e1505b Articles] in The New Republic
[http://www.thenation.com/directory/bios/thomas_geoghegan Articles] in The Nation
[https://web.archive.org/web/20070930022421/http://www.prospect.org/cs/search?keyword=geoghegan Articles] in The American Prospect
[https://web.archive.org/web/20090124101900/http://www.aei.org/docLib/20080717_Frank_lawreview.pdf Review] by Ted Frank of Geoghegan's book See You In Court