The President Emeritus of the Center for Constitutional Rights and the most idealistic member of the Ratner clan, Michael Ratner is a legal gadfly best known for campaigning for the civil rights of terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay. He's the brother of real estate developer Bruce Ratner.

The son of Ohio real estate magnate Harry Ratner, Michael was raised in Cleveland and initially considered pursuing a career as an archaeologist. He soon got caught up in the spirit of the '60s and after graduating from Columbia Law School—and clerking for Judge Constance Baker Motley—he joined the Center for Constitutional Rights, the advocacy group founded in the mid-'60s by lefties including William Kunstler. Ratner has been crusading for civil rights both in the U.S. and abroad ever since: In the '80s, he challenged President Reagan over U.S. support to Nicaraguan rebels; in the '90s, he led a lawsuit against the first President Bush to stop the Gulf War; and during the Clinton administration, he sued to stop the U.S. bombings in Kosovo and traveled to Haiti to assist in the prosecution of human rights crimes. He's also spent time away from the CCR by maintaining a private practice, acting as a lecturer at Yale and Columbia law schools, and articles and chapters for numerous books.

Ratner and CCR have filed suit against the current administration over just about every policy you can think of—and with about as much success as you'd imagine. In recent years, the group has emerged as one of the most vocal opponents of Camp X-Ray, the detention facility at Guantanamo where suspected terrorists have been held indefinitely. Ratner has represented several detainees—although in some cases, he hasn't been allowed to speak with them or correspond by mail. (The Supreme Court declined to hear the detainees' case in April 2007.) CCR also filed briefs in the Yaser Hamdi and Jose Padilla cases, challenging the government's power to try terrorism suspects as "enemy combatants." Ratner has taken on a few cases closer to home, too. He's defended the rights of street artists to set up shop outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art, for example. [Image via Getty]