1970 to today
Legal legacy
Press freedom, nuclear safety, civil rights, refugee protection and government secrecy: five decades of cases that ask who holds power, and what the public has a right to know.
Danny Sheehan’s cases share a through-line: each asks who holds power, whether they are accountable, and what the public has a right to know. These pages cover the major cases of his career, with links to the UCSC lectures in which he tells the stories himself.
1971
The Pentagon Papers
Worked on The New York Times’ legal team in the case that let the press publish the secret history of the Vietnam War.
1970 to 1975
1970s civil liberties cases
Panther 21, Attica, Watergate, Wounded Knee, Eisenstadt v. Baird and more.
1976 to 1986
Karen Silkwood
Chief counsel in the suit against Kerr-McGee, which won a landmark 1984 Supreme Court ruling on punitive damages for nuclear injuries.
1979
Three Mile Island
Represented victims of the nuclear accident and fought the release of radioactive material into the Susquehanna River.
1979 to 1985
Greensboro
Helped win the only verdict holding anyone responsible for the 1979 Klan and Nazi killings of five demonstrators.
1980s
The Sanctuary Movement
Helped defend church workers in Texas prosecuted for sheltering refugees from El Salvador and Guatemala.
1986 to 1992
Avirgan v. Hull and Iran-Contra
The Christic Institute’s racketeering suit against the covert network behind the Contra supply operation.
2004 to 2018
Standing Rock
Chief counsel of the Lakota People’s Law Project and defense counsel for water protector Chase Iron Eyes.
2023 to today
UAP disclosure
Chief Counsel of the New Paradigm Institute, working for full and responsible disclosure.