Analysis

Justices To Confront Divisive Cases On Rights, Power, Liberty

By Marco Poggio

The U.S. Supreme Court is poised to confront a slate of divisive issues in its upcoming term that begins Monday, with voting rights, transgender equality, religious freedom, immigration detention, and criminal procedure all on the docket.

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Sentenced To Debt: The Growing Fight Over Court Fees

By Jack Karp

Activists are increasingly working to abolish the myriad fees that states and municipalities charge criminal defendants to fund their courts and jails but that critics say leave indigent people with lifelong debt they can never pay.

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Analysis

How Attys' Pursuit Of Truth Got ICE To Release An Ohio Imam

By Britain Eakin

Kathryn Brady with the Muslim Legal Fund of America called it a "miracle." With no warning, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement released her client — Egyptian imam and chaplain Ayman Soliman — on Sept. 19 and reinstated his asylum protections after keeping him locked up for 73 days and threatening to deport him to a country where he said he would face certain death.

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High Court Asked To Review Racial Bias In Miss. Jury Strikes

By Marco Poggio

It wasn't until after he endured six capital murder trials tainted by racial prejudice that Curtis Flowers, a Black Mississippian, was finally exonerated, had the charges against him dismissed and his name cleared.

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Justices To Mull Hawaii's 'Vampire Law' For Concealed Carry

By Marco Poggio

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a challenge to a Hawaii law that bars pistol permit holders from bringing handguns onto private property open to the public without the owner's express permission, similar to policies in other states that critics have characterized as "vampire laws."

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First Step Act Isn't All Retroactive, Gov't Tells High Court

By Elizabeth Daley

The federal government has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to find that Congress never intended certain sentencing reduction provisions within the 2018 First Step Act to be applied retroactively, and to resolve a 6-4 circuit split.

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Ch. 11 Shields Co. From Suit Over Inmate Stroke, Judge Says

By Parker Quinlan

A federal judge in North Carolina has dismissed prison healthcare provider Wellpath from a lawsuit brought by the family of a man who died of a stroke inside a Charlotte jail, finding that the company's bankruptcy shields it from liability but allowing claims against a county sheriff and others to continue.

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Rikers Detainees File Class Action Over Solitary Confinement

By Marco Poggio

A group of detainees are accusing the New York City Department of Correction of systematically violating the state's landmark law restricting solitary confinement, saying in a state court in a proposed class complaint they have been locked in their cells for up to 24 hours a day at Rikers Island despite the ban, a lawyer told Law360 on Wednesday.

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6th Circ. Reverses Immunity For Officers Who Injured Inmate

By Elizabeth Daley

A Sixth Circuit panel said a trial court was wrong to use qualified immunity to toss a Michigan prisoner's suit alleging his constitutional rights were violated when corrections officers slammed him to the ground and fractured his foot in two places.

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NC Justices Asked To Keep Men In Prison Amid Murder Appeal

By Parker Quinlan

The North Carolina Attorney General's Office has requested that the state Supreme Court review an August decision to release two men after they spent nearly 20 years in state prison for a murder they claim they did not commit.

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Sen. Ossoff Pushes Fed. Courts To Uphold Access To Counsel

By Courtney Bublé

Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., has urged the Judicial Conference to take further action to ensure that all defendants, particularly low-income ones, have access to counsel for their initial appearance in federal court.

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Men On NYPD Gang List Fight To Keep Alive Racial Bias Suit

By Brandon Lowrey

Three anonymous men on the New York Police Department's list of gang members have urged a federal judge to reject the city's bid to dismiss their putative class action, saying their claims are based on ongoing racial discrimination and civil rights violations.

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NCAA, SUNY Sued After Blocking Trans Runner From Race

By Jonathan Capriel

A transgender sprinter is suing the National Collegiate Athletic Association and SUNY Geneseo college, claiming they discriminated against her by barring her from competing in a track event, despite knowing that the NCAA's 2025 transgender exclusion policy violates New York state law.

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NY Courts Back Use Of New Evidence Management Tech

By Andrea Keckley

The chief administrative judge of the New York Courts encouraged its commercial division in an administrative order to take advantage of web-based digital platforms known as virtual evidence courtrooms to help manage and present evidence during trials.

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Texas Recovery Biz Fails To Pay Legal Wages, Suit Says

By Zak Kostro

Participants of several Texas-based recovery programs for addiction and other problems routinely work 40 or more hours per week at commercial facilities including a farm and sawmill, but receive only low-value "points" for their labor instead of lawful wages, according to a proposed collective and class action filed in federal court.

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States Say DOJ Can't Tie Victim Service Funds To Immigration

By Gina Kim

Several state attorneys general sued the U.S. Department of Justice in Rhode Island federal court Wednesday over new restrictions prohibiting them from using federal funding that supports crime victims to provide services to "removable aliens," in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act and the U.S. Constitution's spending clause.

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Perspectives

4 Trauma-Informed Strategies For Mediating Sex Abuse Cases

Navigating the justice system can be a retraumatizing experience for survivors of sexual abuse, so it’s imperative that mediators who work on these types of cases employ trauma-informed methods to foster trust and help parties reach meaningful resolutions, says Ellie Vilendrer at Signature Resolution.

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Perspectives

Homelessness Exec Order Conflates Criminalization With Care

A recent executive order encouraging states to involuntarily commit unhoused people experiencing mental health or substance use issues — combined with a number of slashed social programs — will likely ensnare more people in the criminal legal system, where they’re unlikely to receive adequate treatment, says Regan Huston at the Prison Policy Initiative.

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