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Access to Justice
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September 22, 2023
Legal Aid Funder Awards $5M For Pro Bono Services
The Legal Services Corporation announced this week it will award more than $5 million in grants to 17 legal organizations around the U.S. in an effort to expand and improve pro bono legal services across the country.
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September 22, 2023
Suits Shed Light On Alleged Baton Rouge 'Torture Warehouse'
An unmarked warehouse down the road from a Baton Rouge, Louisiana, police station has become the subject of lawsuits alleging that some police detainees have been subjected to clandestine and sometimes violent interrogations. The allegations are serious enough that the FBI is investigating, authorities say.
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September 22, 2023
How Robins Kaplan Helped Protect Minn. Wilderness Area
Attorneys with Robins Kaplan LLP recently helped an environmental group defeat a suit brought by a mining company seeking to extract copper and nickel upstream from a massive, federally protected Minnesota wilderness area including some of the most pristine waterways in North America.
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September 22, 2023
Georgia DAs' Fear Of 'Witch Hunt' Unfounded, Judge Told
Counsel for members of Georgia's new commission tasked with investigating complaints against prosecutors urged an Atlanta judge Friday to reject an attempt by four district attorneys to halt the commission's work before it starts accepting complaints Oct. 1.
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September 20, 2023
NY State Bar Unveils Post-Affirmative Action DEI Strategies
Members of a New York State Bar Association task force on Wednesday urged leaders in higher education, law and the corporate world to implement meaningful and legally permissible race-neutral criteria to advance diversity and inclusion goals in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision ending affirmative action in university admissions.
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September 15, 2023
DC Lawyers Group For Civil Rights Names Three Directors
The Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs has named a new development director, a new legal director and its first communications director, the committee announced Thursday.
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September 13, 2023
Mass. Justices Hint At Individual Review Of Police Misdeeds
Justices on Massachusetts' highest court signaled Wednesday that they do not view allegations of widespread police misconduct in a now-disbanded Springfield police narcotics unit in the same light as the state drug lab scandal that led to the dismissals of some 30,000 convictions.
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September 13, 2023
Prisons Bureau Chief Questioned On Reports Of Inmate Abuse
The director of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons faced questions from lawmakers on Wednesday about how the agency is working to address reports of sexual misconduct by inmates and employees following multiple investigations.
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September 13, 2023
Dem Sen. Peter Welch Blasts Possible Public Defender Cuts
Years before coming to Congress, Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., was a public defender, and now he's raising the alarm about proposed cuts by the House and Senate to the federal public defender system, which he calls a "bedrock requirement" of the American judicial system.
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September 12, 2023
Rule Changes Could Slow Eviction Process In Michigan
The Michigan court process for evictions is set to change in November, when several new and temporary tenant protections that could increase the amount of time it takes to evict a renter who is behind on bills will take permanent effect.
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September 12, 2023
Senate Bill Reintroduced To Address Judicial 'Emergencies'
A bipartisan group of senators announced Tuesday they have reintroduced legislation to create 66 new district judgeships following the next two presidential elections in order to alleviate workloads on the courts.
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September 12, 2023
Public Defenders Are 'Dangerously' Overworked, Report Finds
Public defenders face extremely heavy workloads that prevent them from providing effective legal representation to people accused of crimes, according to a new study published Tuesday.
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September 11, 2023
DOJ Awards $59 Million For Domestic Violence Programs
The U.S. Department of Justice awarded nearly $58.9 million in grants to support survivors of domestic and dating violence, sexual assault and stalking, the agency announced.
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September 08, 2023
What A $1M Civil Rights Win Means For Police Accountability
After helping win a $1.1 million verdict last month for a Staten Island man who said he was falsely arrested by three New York police officers, counsel on the case said the victory showed a growing receptiveness by jurors to give serious consideration to misconduct allegations.
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September 08, 2023
Clerical Snags Stymie Name Changes For Trans New Yorkers
Despite a 2021 state law streamlining the legal process for changing names and genders in New York courts, advocates say clerical staff has created new obstacles for transgender people seeking to affirm their identities, even in a relatively progressive jurisdiction such as Manhattan.
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September 08, 2023
'Remarkable' 5th Circ. Ruling May Help End Felon Voting Bans
After the Fifth Circuit recently labeled Mississippi's permanent disenfranchisement of felons an example of unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment, advocates say the ruling could further efforts to end the practice elsewhere around the country, but critics counter that it conflicts with precedent and the U.S. Constitution.
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September 08, 2023
Morgan Lewis Helps Former Afghan Official, Family Flee To US
Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP attorneys worked for nearly two years to help a former Afghan government official and his family navigate the visa process and relocate to the United States.
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September 08, 2023
Two Wrongfully Convicted Men Win $20.5M From Louisville
Two men who each spent about 22 years in prison for a murder but were later exonerated through DNA evidence will share a $20.5 million settlement from Louisville's government, attorneys for the men announced Friday.
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September 08, 2023
Biden Admin Settles Suit Over Afghan Asylum App Delays
President Joe Biden's administration has agreed to adjudicate at least half of the pending asylum bids filed by Afghan applicants by October as part of a settlement resolving a proposed class action that accused the government of failing to meet its own timetable for those fleeing renewed Taliban rule.
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September 07, 2023
Atty Wellness Among NJ High Court's Equal Justice Initiatives
The New Jersey Supreme Court has outlined new initiatives to ensure access to justice for people of color and other historically marginalized groups, including expanding efforts to support wellness for law professionals and leveraging technology to improve notice of and access to court language services.
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September 07, 2023
Del. Court Declines To Force Grand Jury Testimony Recording
A Delaware appellate judge has ruled that despite what he agreed was a "marked unfairness for criminal defendants," he would not disturb a set of conflicting procedural rules requiring that defendants be given access to recordings of grand jury testimony while also largely preventing such recordings from being created in the first place.
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September 05, 2023
Major Settlement Aims To Change NYPD's Protest Response
The New York Police Department on Tuesday has agreed to change its use of force policies in responding to protests as part of a settlement that will require it to use deescalation techniques and adopt a more nuanced approach to crowd control, according to papers filed in federal court.
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September 01, 2023
Okla. Courts To Expand Non-English Access Under DOJ Deal
The Justice Department has struck a deal with the Oklahoma Supreme Court's administrative staff to provide more resources to individuals with limited English proficiency, resolving a 2021 complaint alleging the state's courts fail to provide adequate language interpretation in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
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August 31, 2023
Houston Man Sues Over Rule Classifying Defendants' Info
A Houston man who distributes criminal defendants' contact information to private defense attorneys on Thursday sued the Harris County District Clerk and the administrative arm of the county's criminal courts over a new rule that makes certain defendant information private, arguing it threatens his direct mail business and violates his constitutional rights.
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August 30, 2023
Seattle Gets Eatery's Suit Over BLM Protest Zone Trimmed
A Korean restaurant in Seattle can't move forward with claims that the city infringed on its constitutional rights by abandoning entire city blocks during Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 without specifying how the city's response created a "particularized danger" for the business, a Washington federal judge ruled this week
Expert Analysis
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States Must Rethink Wrongful Conviction Compensation Laws
States, counties and municipalities have now paid over $3 billion in judgments or settlements to exonerees, while policymakers lack comprehensive data on official misconduct and financial costs — but rethinking state compensation statutes can curb the policies and practices that cause wrongful convictions in the first place, says Jeffrey Gutman at George Washington University.
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Police And Voting Reform Need Federal Remedy, Not Takeover
The debate over what level of government should hold sway is central to today's impasse over voting rights and police reform legislation, but anchoring the conversation in the U.S. Constitution can create the common ground of tailored federal remediation that also preserves traditional state and local functions, says Marc Levin at the Council on Criminal Justice.
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8th Circ. Ruling Further Narrows Qualified Immunity
The recent Eighth Circuit ruling in Intervarsity Christian Fellowship/USA v. University of Iowa seems to align with a growing body of case law suggesting that government officials may have a harder time obtaining qualified immunity for their actions if they involve calculated choices to enforce unconstitutional policies, says Thomas Eastmond at Holland & Knight.
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6 Ways To Improve Veterans' Access To Civil Legal Aid
Veterans often lack adequate help when confronting civil legal issues such as evictions, foreclosures and child custody disputes, so legal aid organizations should collaborate with veteran-serving programs and state and local governments to offer former military members better access to legal resources, say Ronald Flagg at Legal Services Corp. and Isabelle Ord at DLA Piper.
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Better Civil Legal Resources Are Key To Justice For All
Fulfilling the promise of equal justice requires disruptive change to the civil legal system, where millions of Americans lack adequate resources and information — and attorneys have many opportunities to help their states build the tools necessary to navigate civil disputes, say retired California Judge Laurie Zelon and Michigan Chief Justice Bridget Mary McCormack.
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User Feedback Is Key To Running Virtual Diversion Programs
Judicially led diversion programs have adapted to the COVID-19 era by providing services online, but recent research points to a disconnect between practitioner and participant perspectives, showing that soliciting user input is crucial to success, says Tara Kunkel at Rulo Strategies.
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Justices Must Reject Police Shield Against Civil Rights Claims
The Institute for Justice’s Marie Miller lays out four reasons why, in deciding Thompson v. Clark, the U.S. Supreme Court should reverse an arcane circuit court rule that abandons the foundational presumption of innocence principle and ultimately provides a shield for police and other government officers who violate constitutional rights.
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NY Courts Should Protect Housing Rights Of All Tenants
New York courts should adopt a construction of the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act that expands on the rights of tenants without a traditional landlord-tenant relationship, in order to not only promote justice, but also adhere to the law as written, say law student Giannina Crosby, and professors Sateesh Nori and Julia McNally, at NYU Law.
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Legally Recognizing Coercive Control Can Help Abuse Victims
The ongoing expansion of state laws to establish coercive control as a form of domestic violence will encourage victims to seek help, and require law enforcement and the judiciary to learn about the complexities surrounding emotional abuse, say attorneys Allison Mahoney and Lindsay Lieberman.
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High Court Gun Case Has Implications For Police Violence
A U.S. Supreme Court decision to weaken gun regulations in the pending New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Corlett could mix with the court's existing precedents regarding police use of force to form a particularly lethal cocktail for police violence against Black people, says Christopher Wright Durocher at the American Constitution Society.
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Justices' Life Sentence Ruling Is A Step Back For Youth Rights
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent refusal to limit juvenile life-without-parole sentences in Jones v. Mississippi is a break from a line of cases that cut back on harsh punishments for children and reflects a court that is comfortable with casual treatment of minors' constitutional rights, says Brandon Garrett at Duke University School of Law.
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States Must Factor Race In COVID-19 Vaccine Prioritization
In order to ensure equity and efficiency in controlling the pandemic, states should use race as a factor in vaccine prioritization — and U.S. Supreme Court precedent on affirmative action and racial integration offers some guidance on how such policies might hold up in court, say law professors Maya Manian and Seema Mohapatra.
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Chauvin May Walk, But Calls For Police Reform Must Continue
As the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for the death of George Floyd nears closing arguments, the prosecution still faces an uphill battle, but what sets this case apart is its potential to change the discourse on racial justice and policing, says Christopher Brown at The Brown Firm.
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A Criminal Justice Reform Premise That Is Statistically Flawed
Underlying calls for defunding the police and numerous other proposals for criminal justice reform is the belief that generally reducing adverse outcomes will tend to reduce racial disparities, but statistical analysis shows the opposite is true, says attorney James Scanlan.
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Improving Protections For Immigrant Domestic Abuse Victims
With the slow crawl of federal immigration reform, people vulnerable to immigration status threats from domestic abusers continue to feel the effects of hostile Trump administration policies, but 2019 amendments to the D.C. blackmail statute reveal the ways state laws can provide more effective relief, say Ashley Carter and Richard Kelley at the DC Volunteer Lawyers Project.