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Access to Justice
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March 12, 2024
Judge Lets Feds Appeal 'Novel' Issues In Asylum Bond Suit
A Washington federal judge allowed federal immigration agencies to seek the Ninth Circuit's opinion on whether the district court can hear a class of asylum-seekers' lawsuit alleging deprivation of bond hearings, saying jurisdictional and constitutional issues in the case seem novel.
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March 12, 2024
NY DAs, Public Defenders Urge Student Loan Aid Expansion
A coalition of 35 district attorney offices, public defender offices, civil legal services providers and unions has urged New York elected officials to pass a bill increasing student loan financial assistance for legal aid attorneys and state prosecutors, many of whom face yearslong debt, Law360 has learned.
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March 08, 2024
'It Erases Us': Sex Abuse Survivors Troubled By Wash. Bill
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is expected to sign into law a bill that eliminates time limits for bringing child sex abuse claims in the future, but survivors say they are disappointed by an amendment stripping the bill's retroactivity, saying the legislation doesn't go far enough to hold abusers accountable.
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March 08, 2024
How Manhattan's Community Court Became A National Model
The Midtown Community Court was founded 30 years ago as a “problem-solving court” designed to unjam the city’s jails and courtrooms by providing social services and other programming to low-level criminal offenders in lieu of more serious penalties. Since then, courts following similar models have quietly spread to almost every state in the country, and plans for even more are in the works.
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March 08, 2024
Debt-Stricken Homeowners Fight Back After High Court Ruling
Ten months after a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision finding a Minnesota county wrongly held onto excess proceeds it reaped after seizing a woman’s condominium and selling it to settle a tax debt, states are scrambling to reexamine their laws as financially distressed homeowners file new suits challenging the practice.
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March 08, 2024
NY Atty's 10-Year Fight Upends Wrongful Murder Conviction
Garrett Ordower's career has evolved considerably over the last decade. But from his time at Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz, to his current roles at Scale LLP and as general counsel for a legal tech startup, there's been one constant: his commitment to clearing Steven Ruffin's name for a murder he didn't commit.
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March 08, 2024
Thompson Coburn Duo Lead 'Army Of Women' In Documentary
In waging an uphill battle against the city of Austin, Thompson Coburn LLP partners Jennifer Ecklund and Elizabeth Myers secured a groundbreaking settlement for sexual assault survivors whose cases were never prosecuted, but what they discovered was that standing up for the survivors meant more to them than that legal victory.
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March 08, 2024
Judge Orders Probe Into NY Atty's Secret Courtroom Meeting
A New York court will look into whether a secret meeting last year between the local attorney representing a man charged with murder and the law clerk for the judge trying his case amounted to an ethical violation and possibly infringed the man's constitutional right to a fair trial, attorneys told Law360 Friday.
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March 06, 2024
Most States Allow Abusive Debt Collection, Report Says
A majority of states lack legal guardrails preventing people burdened by debt from facing legal jeopardy and even jail time, the National Center for Access to Justice at Fordham University School of Law recently found.
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March 04, 2024
'Access To Justice Means Language Justice,' DOJ Official Says
The U.S. Department of Justice said some language barriers in the justice system have been mitigated but that more work needs to be done to ensure non-English speakers have equitable access to the courts.
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March 01, 2024
Conn. Lawmakers OK $25.2M Deal For 2 Jailed In 1985 Killing
The Connecticut General Assembly's bipartisan joint judiciary committee on Friday unanimously approved a $25.2 million settlement for two men who lawmakers agreed were improperly incarcerated for more than 30 years after a chain of failures led to wrongful convictions in a December 1985 New Milford murder.
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February 28, 2024
Justices Allow Idaho Execution, But State 'Unable To Proceed'
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday cleared the way for Idaho to execute a man for the murder of a fellow inmate, refusing to review his claim that Idaho's continued execution of prisoners whose death sentences were issued by judges and not juries violates the Eighth Amendment.
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February 26, 2024
Boston Moves To Settle Suit Over 2016 Police Shooting
The city of Boston has reached an agreement in principle to settle a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the mother of a Black man who was shot to death by Boston police officers in 2016, according to a Monday filing.
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February 26, 2024
Murder, Robbery Exoneree Seeks $1M For Lost Years
A Massachusetts man who spent more than half his life in prison before being exonerated for a 1994 murder and robbery has filed a lawsuit seeking $1 million in compensation under a 20-year-old state law.
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February 23, 2024
Mass. Ruling Seen As 'Sea Change' In Young Adult Sentencing
A first-of-its-kind ruling by Massachusetts’ top appeals court recently declared sentences of life without parole for anyone under 21 to be unconstitutional, and advocates say the decision and the science backing it up could provide a road map for young adult sentencing reform nationwide.
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February 23, 2024
New Group Aims To Help Attys Meet Middle Class Legal Needs
For middle-class Americans who may make too much money to qualify for legal aid services, affording an attorney to assist with civil matters like divorces and estate planning can still be a financial impossibility. The recently launched Above The Line Network, however, is on a mission to promote cost-conscious lawyering models to put legal services within economic reach for a big and underserved middle market.
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February 23, 2024
WilmerHale Scores Win For Hearing Impaired Mass. Prisoners
After an eight-year legal fight, WilmerHale and several nonprofit legal advocacy organizations recently won a major ruling from a federal judge to help change how deaf and hard-of-hearing Massachusetts prisoners receive emergency notifications and other announcements.
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February 23, 2024
ABA Report Says Electronic Monitoring Of Migrants Is Punitive
The electronic monitoring of noncitizens by immigration authorities amounts to a form of detention that imposes a "considerable human toll" on immigrants and their families and may even violate constitutional guarantees of due process, according to a report commissioned by the American Bar Association that was released Friday.
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February 23, 2024
ACLU Kicks Off Clemency Project To Reduce NJ Incarceration
The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey has launched a new initiative aimed at reducing sentences for incarcerated victims of domestic violence and people facing extreme trial penalties, advocating for a framework that calls on the governor to holistically consider injustices facing those groups of people when making decisions on clemency.
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February 23, 2024
How Jenner & Block Is Living Up To $250M Pro Bono Pledge
After pledging four years ago to provide $250 million in free legal assistance through 2025, the co-chair of Jenner & Block LLP’s pro bono committee told Law360 recently that the firm was already 80% of the way toward its goal as attorneys tackle matters involving immigration, humanitarian parole, voting access and more.
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February 21, 2024
Justices Reject Ga.'s Bid To Retry Man Acquitted Of Murder
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday blocked Georgia's attempt to again prosecute an accused murderer whose trial ended in contradictory verdicts, finding that "an acquittal is an acquittal" regardless of a simultaneous guilty verdict for the same offense.
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February 20, 2024
Jurors' Death Penalty Views Not Tied To Race, Colo. Justices Say
The Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously rejected a Black man's efforts to reverse his 2008 murder conviction for a drive-by shooting, with the justices finding that prosecutors' dismissal of two Black jurors did not amount to improper racial bias.
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February 20, 2024
Alito 'Concerned' Jurors Can Be Axed For Religious Beliefs
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said Tuesday he is "concerned" about the prospect of potential jurors being dismissed because of their religious beliefs, as the justices declined to hear a case in which Christian jurors were excused over their views on homosexuality.
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February 16, 2024
Inmate Suicides Linked To Federal Prison Bureau's Failures
Federal prisons have for years been plagued by "a multitude of operational failures" that have resulted in inmates dying, many of them by suicide, a federal watchdog has found.
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February 15, 2024
What Rescheduling Pot Would Mean For Criminal Justice Reform
While federal drug enforcers mull a recommendation from health regulators to loosen restrictions on marijuana, criminal justice reformers are warning that rescheduling the drug would not realize President Joe Biden's campaign promise to decriminalize marijuana.
Expert Analysis
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Eviction Cases Need Tiered Legal Help, Not Unlimited Counsel
The concept of right to counsel in civil cases, particularly in the context of evictions, is hotly debated, but rather than giving every tenant full representation regardless of the merits of their case, we should be focused on ensuring that everyone has the right amount of legal help, says Bob Glaves at the Chicago Bar Foundation.
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US Self-Defense Law Is Neither Overly Harsh Nor Disappearing
The inaccurate caricatures of U.S. self-defense law distract us from engaging in a more fully informed debate about the appropriate role of, and justification for, self-defense in a modern, pluralistic society, says Markus Funk at Perkins Coie.
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High Court Death Penalty Ruling Presents A Troubling Future
While the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Cruz v. Arizona — which said the Arizona high court misinterpreted state criminal procedure and warranted federal review was — came as a pleasant surprise in its prioritization of due process, the 5-4 ruling also portends poorly for the future with a low bar in death penalty cases, says Christopher Durocher at the American Constitution Society.
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What Landmark Ruling Means For Civil Rights Suits In Nevada
The Nevada Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Mack v. Williams ends the use of qualified immunity in the state, and though the defense will likely be revived by the Legislature, the decision provides a framework for litigants to hold state actors accountable for violations of state constitutional protections, says Austin Barnum at Clark Hill.
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We Can Ensure Public Safety And Still Reduce Incarceration
Recent progress toward reducing jail and prison populations remains fragile as tough-on-crime policies reemerge, but American history shows that we don’t have to choose between less violence and lower incarceration rates — we can have both, says Jeffrey Bellin at William & Mary Law School.
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War On Drugs Is Cautionary Tale For Abortion Prosecution
As state abortion bans proliferate, prosecutors have an obligation to learn from the devastating lessons of the war on drugs — which disproportionately affected communities of color — and vow not to prosecute individuals’ reproductive health care-related decisions, says Dekalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston.
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The Most-Read Access To Justice Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022
Law360 guest experts weighed in on a broad slate of emerging access to justice issues last year, ranging from evidence of ineffective counsel to opportunities for nonlawyers to provide legal help and the presumption of innocence.
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Understanding Illinois' First-Of-Its-Kind Law Nixing Cash Bail
A new law taking effect Jan. 1 that makes Illinois the first state to eliminate cash bail has been amended to correct some of the many concerns of those who opposed the original, flawed piece of legislation that was rushed through, and will make sweeping changes to how criminal justice operates in Illinois, say Joe Tabor and Perry Zhao at the Illinois Policy Institute.
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Defense Attorneys Can Help Limit Electronic Monitor Overuse
Though electronic monitoring is increasingly promoted as an alternative to incarceration for people awaiting trial, on probation or parole, or undergoing immigration proceedings, its effectiveness is unsupported by evidence and it results in clear harms, so defense attorneys should consider several strategies to challenge its overuse, say experts at the ACLU.
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DOJ Can't Justify Its Failure To Get Data On Deaths In Custody
The U.S. Department of Justice incorrectly claims that a law requiring it to collect meaningful data on how many people die in government custody has somehow limited its ability to do just that — and every failure to study these deaths is a missed opportunity to prevent others, says David Janovsky at the Project On Government Oversight.
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How Civilian Attorneys Can Help Veterans
With legal aid topping the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' annual list of unmet needs of veterans facing housing insecurity, nonmilitary volunteer attorneys can provide some of the most effective legal services to military and veteran clients, say Anna Richardson at Veterans Legal Services and Nicholas Hasenfus at Holland & Knight.
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Prison Abuse Victims May Get Justice In NY Look-Back Term
As New York opens a one-year window for survivors of adulthood sexual abuse to bring otherwise time-barred claims, incarcerated individuals who were abused by prison staff have an opportunity to seek redress, and can rely on a recent federal court decision to assess potential remedies, says Jaehyun Oh at the Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Firm.
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As 4th Circ. Reminds, Carrying Cash Is Not A Crime
The Fourth Circuit’s recent decision in U.S. v. McClellan makes clear that unwillingness or inability to use a bank account does not necessarily make someone a criminal, and that the government needs evidence of wrongdoing before seizing and keeping assets, say Robert Johnson and Caroline Grace Brothers at Institute for Justice.
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Algorithms Have Potential To Reduce Sentencing Disparities
Criminal legal system algorithms have mostly been used to assess the risk posed by defendants in settings like pretrial release, bail determinations, sentencing and parole supervision, but predictable modeling can also be used to reduce sentencing disparities and overly punitive outcomes, say ACLU researchers and collaborators.
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2 Legislative Reforms Would Address Many Immigration Woes
Congress should pass currently pending legislation to create an Article I immigration court and update the registry process — reforms that would shield immigration courts from political pressure, enable many longtime residents to cure their immigration status, and alleviate case backlogs, says retired immigration judge Dana Leigh Marks.