Grover Rees, III
Encyclopedia
Grover Joseph Rees, III a Louisiana
lawyer, is the former United States ambassador
to the Democratic Republic of East Timor. He presented his credentials to East Timorese President Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão
in December 2002, following his nomination by then U.S. President George W. Bush
and confirmation by the United States Senate
. East Timor declared its independence from Portugal
in 1975.
in Baton Rouge and Harvard Law School
in 1915.
Rees, III, obtained his undergraduate degree from Yale University
in New Haven, Connecticut
, where he served a term as chairman of The Party of the Right (Yale)
(POR). Rees, known as "Rocky," graduated from LSU's Paul M. Hebert
Law School in 1978. From 1978 to 1979, he was a law clerk to then-Associate Justice Albert Tate, Jr.
, of the Louisiana Supreme Court
. Rees speaks French, Spanish, and Samoan.
Rees is married to Landai Nguyen Rees, who is of Vietnamese
descent. He has a son by a previous marriage, Grover Joseph Rees, IV, and a daughter-in-law, the former Oksana Prokhvachevaa. When Rees moved to assume his duties in East Timor, he told reporters that he expects eventually to retire to either Breaux Bridge or Lafayette
, where his parents and most of his eight brothers and three sisters reside.
from 1986 to 1991, having served under appointment from both Presidents Ronald W. Reagan
and George Herbert Walker Bush. He is also a former legislative aide to Representative Christopher H. Smith, a Republican
from Trenton, New Jersey
, the leader of antiabortion forces in the U.S. House. Rees shares Smith's antiabortion position.
Rees furthermore is a strong defender of human rights
in foreign policy. From 1995 to 2001, he was the staff director and chief counsel of the U.S. House Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights.
American Samoa, where Rees was stationed for five years, became a landmark case in the United States' prosecution of human trafficking—the international practice of forcing people into servitude, slavery
, peonage, child labor
, or the sex industry.
Rees warned that anyone who exploits workers will face legal consequences in the United States. "If you're going to traffic women and men to slave-like situations, you better not do it in a place under the American flag," he said. As a congressional aide, Rees helped to draft the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000.
He was general counsel to the Immigration and Naturalization Service
, then part of the U.S. Justice Department, from 1991 to 1993, in the administration of the first President Bush. He stayed at the INS on for a time after Bill Clinton
assumed the presidency, but when Clinton "turned back a boatload of Chinese
refugees in California
and sent them back to China
, the president had Joseph's resignation on his desk the next day," said his mother, Patricia Rees.
Mrs. Rees said that her son, whom she addresses as "Joseph," has always been passionate about standing up for the rights of oppressed people.
Rees worked on the Timor issue for several years prior to his appointment as ambassador. In 1998, four days after the fall of President Suharto, he visited President Gusmão at Cipinang prison in Jakarta
, as part of Congressman Smith’s delegation. Rees again visited Gusmão when the latter was transferred to house arrest
in Salemba in 1999.
Rees expresses optimism for the future of East Timor, a country that, he said, is "rising from the ashes." Rees said that he visited the island in 1996, while it was struggling with the issue of self-determination after some two decades of oppression by Indonesia
, and again in 2000, just after a vote for independence.
East Timor was in 1996 "nothing but smoking ruins, but now there's a democratically elected president and parliament. Now there is hope," Rees predicted. The new Timorese government "is an experiment in an area of the world that for the most part has not embraced democratic forms of government. . . . It's like being at ground zero during the birth of a nation, like being in Boston
in 1776," he said.
(born 1993) should remain with relatives in Miami
or be returned to communist Cuba
. Rees decried the pre-dawn raid that resulted in Elián's capture by INS agents. The whole case was, he said, a triumph for Cuban President Fidel Castro
. "Castro has actually been able to turn the Elián issue to his advantage across a broad field of ways." When asked why the Republican Congress did not rise up against the seizure of Elián, presumably against the boy's wishes, to communist governance, Reese cited public opinion polls. "Had the polls suggested that 70 or 80 percent of the people were appalled by the pre-dawn raid in Miami, you would have seen a different reaction in Congress," said Rees.
Rees said that he was stunned when he learned that the number of federal agents who participated in "Operation Reunion," the raid to seize Elián from his great uncle's home in Miami, included a total of 151 persons, 131 from the INS and 20 from the United States Marshal's office.
. He wrote numerous law review articles, one of which declared the 1979 congressional vote to extend ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment
for three additional years to be unconstitutional. In that the ERA was not added to the Constitution
, the U.S. Supreme Court never ruled on the constitutionality of the extension.
In another law article, Rees argued for traditional constitutional law, rather than judge-made law in which the jurists often insert their personal legal and political views in the decisions.
Rees also served as a special counsel to then Attorney General Edwin Meese, III, in 1986. He worked on judicial appointments. He attempted to find conservative judges who would overturn the liberal legacies of the Earl Warren
and the Warren E. Burger
courts but would do so without their own "activist" agenda. Rees was quoted in a column by the late Joseph Sobran
as "bristling" at the use of the word "activist."
As he was finishing law school, Rees published a short campaign biography of then U.S. Representative David C. Treen
, a fellow Republican who was then seeking the Louisiana governorship for a second time. In 1979, Treen was elected Louisiana's first Republican governor since Reconstruction: he served from 1980 to 1984. Rees titled his book Dave Treen of Louisiana. Treen was also Louisiana's first Republican congressman (1973–1980) of the twentieth century. Rees was also a press assistant to Treen in 1973 and a member of the Young Republicans while he was in college.
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
lawyer, is the former United States ambassador
United States Ambassador to East Timor
The diplomatic post of United States Ambassador to East Timor was created after the formalization of the independence of East Timor from Indonesia on May 20, 2002...
to the Democratic Republic of East Timor. He presented his credentials to East Timorese President Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão
Xanana Gusmão
Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão GCL is a former militant who was the first President of East Timor, serving from May 2002 to May 2007...
in December 2002, following his nomination by then U.S. President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
and confirmation by the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
. East Timor declared its independence from Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
in 1975.
Early years and education
Rees was born in New Orleans, the first of twelve children to Grover Joseph Rees, II (born August 14, 1927), and the former Patricia Byrne (born January 25, 1927). His father was in the military; so the family traveled around a great deal. His paternal grandparents, Grover Rees, I, and the former Consuelo Broussard, both of whom lived past the age of one hundred, made their home in Breaux Bridge in St. Martin Parish, and Rees spent many summers there. Grandfather Rees wrote an acclaimed history of Breaux Bridge. Rees, I, was a 1912 graduate of the Louisiana State UniversityLouisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
in Baton Rouge and Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
in 1915.
Rees, III, obtained his undergraduate degree from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
in New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
, where he served a term as chairman of The Party of the Right (Yale)
Party of the Right (Yale)
The Party of the Right is a fraternal, political, and intellectual organization founded in 1953, functioning secondarily as one of the parties within the Yale Political Union. The POR was founded by genuinely conservative members of the Conservative Party, outraged by the Conservative Party's...
(POR). Rees, known as "Rocky," graduated from LSU's Paul M. Hebert
Paul M. Hebert
Paul Macarius Hebert was the longest serving Dean of the LSU Law School , serving in that role with brief interruptions from 1937 until his death in 1977...
Law School in 1978. From 1978 to 1979, he was a law clerk to then-Associate Justice Albert Tate, Jr.
Albert Tate, Jr.
Albert Tate Jr. was a long-serving Louisiana judge known for his leadership of the legal profession. A Democrat, Tate served on the Louisiana First and Third Circuit Courts of Appeal, the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans , and the Louisiana Supreme Court , also in New...
, of the Louisiana Supreme Court
Louisiana Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Louisiana is the highest court and court of last resort in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The modern Supreme Court, composed of seven justices, meets in the French Quarter of New Orleans....
. Rees speaks French, Spanish, and Samoan.
Rees is married to Landai Nguyen Rees, who is of Vietnamese
Vietnamese people
The Vietnamese people are an ethnic group originating from present-day northern Vietnam and southern China. They are the majority ethnic group of Vietnam, comprising 86% of the population as of the 1999 census, and are officially known as Kinh to distinguish them from other ethnic groups in Vietnam...
descent. He has a son by a previous marriage, Grover Joseph Rees, IV, and a daughter-in-law, the former Oksana Prokhvachevaa. When Rees moved to assume his duties in East Timor, he told reporters that he expects eventually to retire to either Breaux Bridge or Lafayette
Lafayette, Louisiana
Lafayette is a city in and the parish seat of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, United States, on the Vermilion River. The population was 120,623 at the 2010 census...
, where his parents and most of his eight brothers and three sisters reside.
Defending human rights
Rees was Chief Justice of the High Court of American SamoaAmerican Samoa
American Samoa is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the sovereign state of Samoa...
from 1986 to 1991, having served under appointment from both Presidents Ronald W. Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
and George Herbert Walker Bush. He is also a former legislative aide to Representative Christopher H. Smith, a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
from Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Trenton had a population of 84,913...
, the leader of antiabortion forces in the U.S. House. Rees shares Smith's antiabortion position.
Rees furthermore is a strong defender of human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
in foreign policy. From 1995 to 2001, he was the staff director and chief counsel of the U.S. House Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights.
American Samoa, where Rees was stationed for five years, became a landmark case in the United States' prosecution of human trafficking—the international practice of forcing people into servitude, slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
, peonage, child labor
Child labor
Child labour refers to the employment of children at regular and sustained labour. This practice is considered exploitative by many international organizations and is illegal in many countries...
, or the sex industry.
Rees warned that anyone who exploits workers will face legal consequences in the United States. "If you're going to traffic women and men to slave-like situations, you better not do it in a place under the American flag," he said. As a congressional aide, Rees helped to draft the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000.
He was general counsel to the Immigration and Naturalization Service
Immigration and Naturalization Service
The United States Immigration and Naturalization Service , now referred to as Legacy INS, ceased to exist under that name on March 1, 2003, when most of its functions were transferred from the Department of Justice to three new components within the newly created Department of Homeland Security, as...
, then part of the U.S. Justice Department, from 1991 to 1993, in the administration of the first President Bush. He stayed at the INS on for a time after Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
assumed the presidency, but when Clinton "turned back a boatload of Chinese
Han Chinese
Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...
refugees in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and sent them back to China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, the president had Joseph's resignation on his desk the next day," said his mother, Patricia Rees.
Mrs. Rees said that her son, whom she addresses as "Joseph," has always been passionate about standing up for the rights of oppressed people.
Optimism for the future of East Timor
In his first speech as ambassador, Rees said that the United States is pleased with the level of freedom and democracy achieved thus far in the Asian country. He urged greater involvement by the Timorese people in their new government. The goal of the leadership of East Timor, he said, must be to maintain security, promote democracy, and guarantee stability so as to attract critically needed foreign investments.Rees worked on the Timor issue for several years prior to his appointment as ambassador. In 1998, four days after the fall of President Suharto, he visited President Gusmão at Cipinang prison in Jakarta
Jakarta
Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...
, as part of Congressman Smith’s delegation. Rees again visited Gusmão when the latter was transferred to house arrest
House arrest
In justice and law, house arrest is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to his or her residence. Travel is usually restricted, if allowed at all...
in Salemba in 1999.
Rees expresses optimism for the future of East Timor, a country that, he said, is "rising from the ashes." Rees said that he visited the island in 1996, while it was struggling with the issue of self-determination after some two decades of oppression by Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, and again in 2000, just after a vote for independence.
East Timor was in 1996 "nothing but smoking ruins, but now there's a democratically elected president and parliament. Now there is hope," Rees predicted. The new Timorese government "is an experiment in an area of the world that for the most part has not embraced democratic forms of government. . . . It's like being at ground zero during the birth of a nation, like being in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
in 1776," he said.
The Elián González affair
His view of human rights led Rees to support a full hearing to determine whether little Elián GonzálezElián González
The custody and immigration status of a young Cuban boy, Elián González , was at the center of a heated 2000 controversy involving the governments of Cuba and the United States, González's father, Juan Miguel González Quintana, González's other relatives in Miami, Florida, and in Cuba, and Miami's...
(born 1993) should remain with relatives in Miami
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
or be returned to communist Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
. Rees decried the pre-dawn raid that resulted in Elián's capture by INS agents. The whole case was, he said, a triumph for Cuban President Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
. "Castro has actually been able to turn the Elián issue to his advantage across a broad field of ways." When asked why the Republican Congress did not rise up against the seizure of Elián, presumably against the boy's wishes, to communist governance, Reese cited public opinion polls. "Had the polls suggested that 70 or 80 percent of the people were appalled by the pre-dawn raid in Miami, you would have seen a different reaction in Congress," said Rees.
Rees said that he was stunned when he learned that the number of federal agents who participated in "Operation Reunion," the raid to seize Elián from his great uncle's home in Miami, included a total of 151 persons, 131 from the INS and 20 from the United States Marshal's office.
A former law professor and author
Prior to his move to Washington in 1986, Rees had served for seven years as an assistant professor at the University of Texas Law School in AustinAustin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
. He wrote numerous law review articles, one of which declared the 1979 congressional vote to extend ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment
Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution. The ERA was originally written by Alice Paul and, in 1923, it was introduced in the Congress for the first time...
for three additional years to be unconstitutional. In that the ERA was not added to the Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
, the U.S. Supreme Court never ruled on the constitutionality of the extension.
In another law article, Rees argued for traditional constitutional law, rather than judge-made law in which the jurists often insert their personal legal and political views in the decisions.
Rees also served as a special counsel to then Attorney General Edwin Meese, III, in 1986. He worked on judicial appointments. He attempted to find conservative judges who would overturn the liberal legacies of the Earl Warren
Earl Warren
Earl Warren was the 14th Chief Justice of the United States.He is known for the sweeping decisions of the Warren Court, which ended school segregation and transformed many areas of American law, especially regarding the rights of the accused, ending public-school-sponsored prayer, and requiring...
and the Warren E. Burger
Warren E. Burger
Warren Earl Burger was the 15th Chief Justice of the United States from 1969 to 1986. Although Burger had conservative leanings, the U.S...
courts but would do so without their own "activist" agenda. Rees was quoted in a column by the late Joseph Sobran
Joseph Sobran
Michael Joseph Sobran, Jr. was an American journalist and writer, formerly with National Review and a syndicated columnist, known as Joe Sobran. Pundit Pat Buchanan called Sobran "perhaps the finest columnist of our generation", although Sobran was fired from National Review by his one-time mentor...
as "bristling" at the use of the word "activist."
As he was finishing law school, Rees published a short campaign biography of then U.S. Representative David C. Treen
David C. Treen
David Conner "Dave" Treen, Sr. , was an American attorney and politician from Mandeville, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana – the first Republican Governor of the U.S. state of Louisiana since Reconstruction. He was the first Republican in modern times to have served in the U.S...
, a fellow Republican who was then seeking the Louisiana governorship for a second time. In 1979, Treen was elected Louisiana's first Republican governor since Reconstruction: he served from 1980 to 1984. Rees titled his book Dave Treen of Louisiana. Treen was also Louisiana's first Republican congressman (1973–1980) of the twentieth century. Rees was also a press assistant to Treen in 1973 and a member of the Young Republicans while he was in college.