ACLU: THE GENOME DEFENSE
Joel Engardio worked on a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case for the American Civil Liberties Union that challenged the government’s ability to issue patents for human genes. The lawsuit asked: Can a company own genes? How does government patents on genes affect the First Amendment right to scientific research and free flow of information?
The groundbreaking civil rights case AMP v. Myriad Genetics is documented in the book The Genome Defense, which highlights Joel’s role. Read experts below.
Joel developed a new plaintiff-finding process for the national ACLU that used journalism methods to determine which plaintiffs would best represent court cases brought by the ACLU. Joel found plaintiffs with the strongest legal cases to win in the court of law. At the same time, he looked for plaintiffs with the most compelling narratives — the stories that could win over the court of public opinion. Then Joel produced online videos about the plaintiffs that were used for media outreach and public education.
Below are excerpts from the book The Genome Defense that describe Joel’s work on a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case. Find the full book here.
