Abner Joseph Mikva (born January 21, 1926) is a Democratic former U.S. Representative, federal judge and law professor from Chicago.

Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Mikva attended the University of Chicago Law School, from which he graduated in 1951. After graduation, he clerked for Supreme Court Justice Sherman Minton, but his early interest in Chicago clearly was politics:

One of the stories that is told about my start in politics is that on the way home from law school one night in 1948, I stopped by the ward headquarters in the ward where I lived. There was a street-front, and the name Timothy O'Sullivan, Ward Committeeman, was painted on the front window. I walked in and I said "I'd like to volunteer to work for [Adlai] Stevenson and [Paul] Douglas." This quintessential Chicago ward committeeman took the cigar out of his mouth and glared at me and said, "Who sent you?" I said, "Nobody sent me." He put the cigar back in his mouth and he said, "We don't want nobody that nobody sent." This was the beginning of my political career in Chicago.

In the Book of Samuel, Abner (Hebrew אבנר "Avner" meaning "father of [or is a] light"), is first cousin to Saul and commander-in-chief of his army (1 Samuel 14:50, 20:25). He is often referred to as the son of Ner.

Abner is only referred to incidentally in Saul's history (1 Samuel 17:55, 26:5), and is not mentioned in the account of the disastrous battle of Gilboa when Saul's power was crushed. Seizing the youngest but only surviving of Saul's sons, Ish-bosheth, Abner set him up as king over Israel at Mahanaim, east of the Jordan. David, who was accepted as king by Judah alone, was meanwhile reigning at Hebron, and for some time war was carried on between the two parties.

David Hoffman is one of America’s veteran documentary filmmakers. During his 40-year career, Hoffman has made five feature-length documentaries including King, Murray, an experimental feature film about a Long Island salesman who goes to Las Vegas on a junket to gamble with other high rollers. King, Murray was the winner of the Critics Award at The Cannes Film Festival. Other feature films include: Earl Scruggs: His Family and Friends, starring Scruggs with Bob Dylan, Doc Watson, and The Byrds; Sing Sing Thanksgiving, a concert feature film at Sing Sing Prison in New York with B.B. King, Joan Baez and others; and It’s All Good, a film chronicling the lives of two aggressive rollerblade teams in New York City and Los Angeles that are competing for a national prize.

David Hoffman was born in New York, New York and raised in Levittown, Long Island by parents H. Lawrence and Eve Hoffman. Hoffman's father was an illustrator and teacher at Cooper Union and his mother was a public speaker. Although his initial career path was as a professional musician, when offered the chance to play for the Minneapolis Symphony (today known as the Minnesota Orchestra), Hoffman decided to venture into storytelling as a filmmaker. At the time the handheld 16 mm camera had just come into prominence in documentary filmmaking, largely as a result of the Maysles Brothers, and Hoffman picked up a used one and began to make movies. Because of his background it was no coincidence that his first films were about musical themes, and at age 24 he was recognized by the United States Information Agency (USIA) as one of the ten best young filmmakers in America.

Sherman "Shay" Minton (October 20, 1890 – April 9, 1965) was a Democratic United States Senator from Indiana and an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

After attending college and law school, he served as a captain in World War I, following which he launched a legal and political career. In 1930, after multiple failed election attempts, and serving as a regional leader in the American Legion, he became a utility commissioner under the administration of Indiana Governor Paul V. McNutt. Four years later, Minton was elected to the United States Senate. During the campaign, he defended New Deal legislation in a series of addresses in which he suggested it was not necessary to uphold the Constitution during the Great Depression crisis. Minton's campaign was denounced by his political opponents, and he received more widespread criticism for an address that became known as the "You Cannot Eat the Constitution" speech. As part of the New Deal Coalition, the fiercely partisan Minton championed President Franklin D. Roosevelt's unsuccessful court packing plans in the Senate and became one of his top Senate allies.