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Access to Justice
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December 13, 2024
YSL Defendant Sues Sheriff Over Fulton Co. Jail Conditions
One of the defendants in the recently wrapped Young Slime Life racketeering and gang trial is now leading a class action against Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat and the county's chief jailer John Jackson over allegations that the two allowed unconstitutional conditions at the jail that violated detainees' Eighth and 14th amendment rights.
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December 12, 2024
Prison Co. Says Jurors Shouldn't See ICE Facility In TVPA Suit
Private prison operator Geo Group urged a Colorado federal judge to deny immigrant detainees' request to show jurors the inside of its detention facility in a trafficking case, including the size of housing units, arguing Wednesday the facility's size will not be relevant when determining whether detainees performed forced labor.
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December 12, 2024
Biden Commutes Nearly 1,500 Sentences In Clemency Record
President Joe Biden announced Thursday he was commuting the prison sentences of nearly 1,500 Americans he said had successfully rehabilitated themselves, the largest number ever in a single day, according to a statement by the White House.
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December 09, 2024
Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch Crack Door For 2nd Amendment Fight
Three U.S. Supreme Court justices on Monday signaled their willingness to delve into an appeal from a Hawaii man who argues that he is being unconstitutionally prosecuted for owning a handgun without a license, though they agreed with the rest of the court that they don't currently have jurisdiction to hear it.
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December 06, 2024
Ga. Man Freed After 26 Years Sues Over Bogus Murder Charge
A Georgia man who spent more than a quarter-century in prison for murder before his name was cleared with the help of two true crime podcasters has sued the county and cops behind his arrest and prosecution alleging he was framed for the accidental death of a friend during a game of Russian roulette.
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December 06, 2024
Justices To Consider Easing Rules On Revising Habeas Petitions
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a case that could make it easier for prisoners to amend their habeas corpus petitions, brought by a man who claims his drunken attorney never pointed out that key evidence in his child pornography trial was marked as "not child porn" by investigators.
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December 06, 2024
Advocates Shine Light On Rash Of Deficient Evictions In NJ
A new report from a team of New Jersey housing experts found that as many as 29,000 tenants and tenant families may be evicted in the Garden State every year based on legally deficient complaints. Now they’re calling for greater oversight in the state’s landlord-tenant courts.
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December 06, 2024
Keker Van Nest Marks 5 Years Of Calif. Resentencing Work
Over the last five years, Keker Van Nest & Peters LLP has helped imprisoned Californians petition to reduce their life sentences following a 2018 change to the state's felony murder rules, most recently securing the release of a man who was originally sentenced to death.
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December 06, 2024
Veterans Courts Help Some, But Leave Many Others Behind
Veterans treatment courts have helped thousands of justice-involved vets with addiction and mental health issues, but strict eligibility rules, difficulty identifying defendants and a lack of courts mean many former service members are still falling through the cracks.
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December 06, 2024
Wash. Justices OK Pilot To Relax Regs For Non-Lawyers
Washington's high court has approved a pilot program that will allow the Evergreen State to loosen rules on who can practice law, with the aim of empowering businesses and organizations not run by lawyers to innovate on providing legal services, and perhaps make them more affordable.
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December 05, 2024
Covington Helps Take Calif. Court Reporter Shortage To Court
Covington & Burling LLP is among the counsel for groups petitioning the California Supreme Court to address the state's court reporter shortage by mandating the use of electronic recording when court reporters are unavailable.
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December 02, 2024
Ga. DNA Testing Law Hinders Death Row Inmates, Suit Says
A Georgia law governing DNA testing used in capital crime cases is unconstitutional because it allows courts to decide whether death row inmates are using bids to reopen evidence as a means to delay their execution, according to a federal lawsuit.
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November 27, 2024
Rikers Faces Federal Takeover As NYC Held In Contempt
A Manhattan federal judge found New York City and its corrections department in civil contempt for failing to fix the "unconstitutional danger" for inmates at Rikers Island, indicating a receivership is the solution.
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November 20, 2024
Ga. Judge Cuts Claims From Jail Book Policy Challenge
A Georgia federal judge Tuesday dismissed several claims in a bookstore's lawsuit alleging a Georgia sheriff and jail commander imposed an unlawful policy of only allowing books into the county jail from authorized retailers, only keeping alive claims against the two men in their official capacities.
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November 15, 2024
Calif. Justice Reformers Vow To Fight After Election Day Losses
California voters' Election Day moves to oust progressive prosecutors and enact purportedly tough-on-crime ballot measures point to a broad conservative swing in criminal justice, a movement that San Francisco's former District Attorney Chesa Boudin and other reform proponents told Law360 they intend to fight in coming years.
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November 15, 2024
The High Court Fee Case That Has Civil Rights Attys On Edge
The U.S. Supreme Court could soon make it more difficult for civil rights attorneys to get paid even when they successfully challenge harmful government policies, an "earthshaking disturbance" advocates say could deter lawyers from taking on indigent clients.
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November 15, 2024
Exploring Louisiana's History Of Nonunanimous Juries
The elimination of nonunanimous jury verdicts in Louisiana in 2018 inspired a Southern University Law Center professor to dive into the state’s long-standing racial prejudice against Black residents, culminating in three books that examine the roots of the problem and how to build a better criminal justice system.
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November 15, 2024
Texas Justices Say Subpoena Can't Pause Roberson Death
The Texas Supreme Court on Friday said that a group of bipartisan Lone Star State legislators can't use its committee's subpoena power to pause the execution of a man convicted based on a "shaken baby syndrome" diagnosis.
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November 14, 2024
CFPB Orders Prison Telecom, Payment Provider To Pay $3M
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced Thursday it has instructed one of the largest prison service providers to pay $3 million to settle claims tied to the company's money transfer and telecommunications businesses, including a claim alleging it froze and drained incarcerated individuals' accounts.
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November 13, 2024
Colo. A2J Commission Will Launch Listening Tour Next Year
Colorado Supreme Court Justice Melissa Hart told a room of attorneys on Wednesday that the state's Access to Justice Commission is preparing a 2025 "listen and learn" tour to solicit ideas on how to better serve Coloradans who struggle to afford legal representation.
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November 08, 2024
Conn. AG Building Abortion Rights 'Firewall' With Firms' Help
Connecticut's Democratic attorney general has joined a multistate partnership with a pro-choice nonprofit and law firms including Silver Golub & Teitell LLP and Koskoff Koskoff & Bieder PC as part of what he described Friday as a "firewall" to protect abortion access during a second Trump administration.
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November 06, 2024
Texas High Court Delays Rule Changes For Non-Atty Services
The Texas Supreme Court has delayed the effective date of rules for allowing non-attorneys to perform some legal services, saying it will take the extra time to "give due consideration to the comments received."
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November 05, 2024
Paxton Seeks Sanctions In Immigration Nonprofit Row
The office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has asked an El Paso federal judge to sanction an immigrant rights nonprofit, claiming that it resisted a civil investigation by making misrepresentations to the court.
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November 01, 2024
#MeToo, Except For Migrants Fleeing Gender-Based Violence
Women fleeing gender-based violence face an uphill battle in a U.S. asylum system that has long been perceived as largely geared toward victims of state persecution and has yet to absorb the #MeToo movement's cultural shift.
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November 01, 2024
The Push To End 'Prison Gerrymandering' Gains Momentum
Opponents of so-called prison gerrymandering are having success fighting to end the practice, which they say reduces the political representation of minority communities in favor of rural, white areas, but obstacles like poor data and political opposition remain.
Expert Analysis
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Higher Juror Compensation Trend Is Good For Justice System
This year a number of states increased daily juror compensation rates after decades of stagnation — a positive development that facilitates more representative juries, aids decision making and boosts public confidence in the legal system, says Cary Silverman at Shook Hardy.
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The Pop Culture Docket: Judge D'Emic On Moby Grape
The 1968 Moby Grape song "Murder in My Heart for the Judge" tells the tale of a fictional defendant treated with scorn by the judge, illustrating how much the legal system has evolved in the past 50 years, largely due to problem-solving courts and the principles of procedural justice, says Kings County Supreme Court Administrative Judge Matthew D'Emic.
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6th Circ. Case Eases Path For Some Excessive Force Claims
The U.S. Supreme Court recently declined to hear Fox v. Campbell, leaving in place the Sixth Circuit’s holding that excessive force claims based on police shootings can be founded on the Fourth Amendment even if no one is hit by gunfire — which will be helpful for some civil rights litigants, says Sharon Fairley at the University of Chicago Law School.
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In Culley, Justices Unlikely To Set New Forfeiture Standards
As the U.S. Supreme Court considers Culley v. Marshall — a case with the potential to reshape civil asset forfeiture practices — the justices' recent comments at oral argument suggest that, while some of them may be concerned about civil forfeiture abuse, they are unlikely to significantly change the status quo, say attorneys at Jackson Walker.
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The Meaning Of 'Bail' Has Strayed Far From Its Legal Roots
As the pretrial system faces increasing scrutiny nationwide, states must recognize that imposing financial bail conditions harms communities, and that pretrial release practices must be realigned with foundational American legal principles — including the idea that money-based detention violates due process, says Matt Alsdorf at the Center for Effective Public Policy.
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Learning From San Francisco's Jury Pay Pilot Program
A pilot program in San Francisco shows that increasing compensation for lower-income jurors can foster more diverse juries and boost access to justice — and provides lessons for establishing similar projects in jurisdictions around the U.S., say San Francisco Treasurer José Cisneros, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins and Public Defender Mano Raju.
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In Domestic Abuse Case, Justices Must Note Gun Law History
In deciding whether laws prohibiting domestic abusers from possessing firearms are unconstitutional in U.S. v. Rahimi, the U.S. Supreme Court should recognize that history is replete with relevant legal analogues restricting gun ownership, says Sarah Bennett at Sodoma Law.
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The Pop Culture Docket: Judge Espinosa On 'Lincoln Lawyer'
The murder trials in Netflix’s “The Lincoln Lawyer” illustrate the stark contrast between the ethical high ground that fosters and maintains the criminal justice system's integrity, and the ethical abyss that can undermine it, with an important reminder for all legal practitioners, say Judge Adam Espinosa and Andrew Howard at the Colorado 2nd Judicial District Court.
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Civil Legal Aid Cuts Are A Threat To Justice And Prosperity
The U.S. House of Representatives' budget proposal for fiscal year 2024 includes $71 million in cuts to civil legal aid, but the measure overlooks the economic benefits of access to justice and the many ways that opening the courts to more citizens can foster both basic human rights and economic growth, says David Carter at Calloquy.
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'True Threat' Ruling May Ensnare Kids' Online Speech
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Counterman v. Colorado decision correctly held that a showing of intent is required to prosecute someone for true threats, but the amorphous standard adopted by the court risks overcriminalizing children’s use of social media and text-based communications, say Adam Pollet at Eversheds Sutherland and Suzanne La Pierre at Human Rights for Kids.
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More States Should Join Effort To Close Legal Services Gap
Colorado is the most recent state to allow other types of legal providers, not just attorneys, to offer specific services in certain circumstances — and more states should rethink the century-old assumptions that shape our current regulatory rules, say Natalie Anne Knowlton and Janet Drobinske at the University of Denver.
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The Pop Culture Docket: Judge Elrod On 'Jury Duty'
Though the mockumentary series “Jury Duty” features purposely outrageous characters, it offers a solemn lesson about the simple but brilliant design of the right to trial by jury, with an unwitting protagonist who even John Adams may have welcomed as an impartial foreperson, says Fifth Circuit Judge Jennifer Elrod.
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A Judge's Pitch To Revive The Jury Trial
Ohio state Judge Pierre Bergeron explains how the decline of the jury trial threatens public confidence in the judiciary and even democracy as a whole, and he offers ideas to restore this sacred right.
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People In Prison Should Have Access To Digital Technology
There are a number of reasons why people who are incarcerated should have access to digital communication technology — from facilitating reentry to saving lives in a future pandemic — but they need the means and the necessary legal protections to do so, say NYU Law student Suchy Kahlon and First Amendment attorney Dan Novack.
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Mallory Gives Plaintiffs A Better Shot At Justice
Critics of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Mallory v. Norfolk Southern claim it opens the door to litigation tourism, but the ruling simply gives plaintiffs more options — enabling them to seek justice against major corporations in the best possible court, say Rayna Kessler and Ethan Seidenberg at Robins Kaplan.