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Access to Justice
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August 23, 2023
Bill Aims To Better Help Incarcerated People With Disabilities
In a new piece of legislation, two Democratic lawmakers are seeking to provide more assistance and resources for people with disabilities who are in local, state and federal jails and prisons.
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August 22, 2023
Ex-Judges Say Abuser Disarmament Is Constitutional
A group of former chief state judges is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to undo a Fifth Circuit decision holding that a law allowing the disarmament of domestic abusers violates the Second Amendment, saying the law and others like it serve to protect vulnerable people as well as the integrity of the courts.
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August 17, 2023
Washington Sued Over New Law On Shelter For Trans Youth
Two anti-trans groups are suing the state of Washington in Seattle federal court over a new law that policymakers say is intended to ensure shelter for teens seeking gender-affirming care and reproductive health services, alleging that the measure tramples parents' "constitutional rights to direct the upbringing of their children."
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August 15, 2023
2nd Amendment Allows Disarming Abusers, Feds Tell Justices
The Fifth Circuit's decision to strike down a law forbidding domestic abusers from owning guns was "profoundly mistaken" and "endangers victims of domestic violence, their families, police officers, and the public," the federal government has told the U.S. Supreme Court.
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August 11, 2023
Family of NY Man Who Died After Police Beating Wins $35M
A federal jury on Thursday awarded a $35 million verdict to the family of Long Island resident Kenny Lazo, who died in Suffolk County police custody in 2008.
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August 10, 2023
Feds, Rikers Detainees Have Green Light To Seek Receiver
A New York federal judge on Thursday cleared the way for detainees at New York City's Rikers Island and Manhattan federal prosecutors to push for a receiver to take control of the notorious jail complex away from city officials, in the wake of increasingly dire reports of violence and mismanagement.
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August 09, 2023
11th Circ. Revives Claim Over Inmate's Mail To Attorneys
The Eleventh Circuit on Tuesday kept alive a Florida inmate's constitutional claim against two county jail employees, saying the prisoner's argument that his legal mail shouldn't be scanned into a computer because others might read it shouldn't have been dismissed by the district court.
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August 07, 2023
Ark. Suit Over Providing Atty For Bail Hearings Is Kept Alive
An Arkansas federal judge has kept alive a suit challenging a state court's failure to appoint counsel to indigent clients prior to their bail hearings, saying the defendants can't escape the claims based on sovereign immunity and declaring that appointed counsel provides "critical assistance" during a bail hearing.
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August 04, 2023
Court-Appointed Atty Accused Of 'Abysmal Representation'
A 70-year-old Houston man who says he sat in jail without substantial contact from his court-appointed attorney for more than three years before his case was ultimately dismissed — causing him to miss the death and funeral of his wife of 40 years — has sued his former lawyer for legal malpractice.
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August 01, 2023
2nd Circ. Revives Honduran Woman's Rape Case Against ICE
The Second Circuit said Tuesday that a lower court should not have rejected the claims of a Honduran immigrant as time-barred and revived her suit alleging a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer regularly raped her and threatened her with deportation for seven years.
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July 31, 2023
ICE Sued For Records Of Chemicals Sprayed At Wash. Facility
An immigrant rights group filed a lawsuit Friday asking a Washington federal judge to compel U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to hand over internal reports of guards at a Tacoma detention facility spewing chemical agents at people being held there earlier this year.
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July 31, 2023
11th Circ. Orders Reopening Of Ala. Convict's Plea Offers
An Eleventh Circuit panel on Friday sided with an Alabama man serving a life sentence for murder, finding there was reason to believe he had never been informed of a plea offer that could have resulted in a 30-year prison sentence instead.
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July 27, 2023
DOJ Hailed For Goal Of Helping Pretrial Inmates Access Attys
The public defender community is praising new recommendations from the U.S. Department of Justice aimed at finding ways to improve the ability of criminal suspects in federal custody to communicate with attorneys and access materials related to their cases.
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July 26, 2023
Mich. Justices Say Pro Bono Status Can't Affect Fee Awards
Pro bono representation should not be a factor in determining a reasonable attorney fee award, the Michigan Supreme Court said Wednesday, finding a judge wrongly slashed Honigman LLP's fee award when it represented a pair of journalists for free in a public records case.
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July 26, 2023
Univ. Research Center Sues DOD For El Salvador Records
The University of Washington's Center for Human Rights has sued the U.S. Department of Defense in Seattle federal court, alleging the Defense Intelligence Agency has withheld records regarding human rights violations that took place amid armed conflict in El Salvador in the 1980s and early 1990s.
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July 26, 2023
Brothers Say Chicago Police Tortured Them For Confessions
Two brothers who spent 26 years in prison before their convictions were vacated in the murder of a 10-year-old boy say in new federal lawsuits that members of the Chicago Police Department used false evidence and torture to force their confessions.
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July 26, 2023
No Early Release For Sick Prisoner Claiming Inadequate Care
There will be no compassionate release for a sick man serving 18 years in prison for collecting more than $9 million from Medicare and Medicaid while banned for fraud, a New Jersey federal court decided.
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July 25, 2023
Advocates Say Tenn. Child Services Fails To Help Immigrants
Several undocumented children and their advocates have accused the Tennessee Department of Children's Services of failing to help them pursue legal status, saying the agency allows vulnerable children in its care to age out of a special pathway to citizenship.
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July 25, 2023
Brooklyn Public Defender Union To Hold 2nd Lunchtime Picket
Nearly two years after eligible employees voted to unionize and be represented by the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys, Brooklyn Defender Services employees plan to hold a second lunchtime picket on Wednesday as they remain without a contract.
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July 25, 2023
New EDNY Committee To Give Convictions A Second Look
A New York federal prosecutor announced Monday that his office is forming a committee to look over claims of wrongful convictions.
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July 21, 2023
How Habeas Corpus Ruling May Condemn Innocent Prisoners
To Justice Kentanji Brown Jackson, it sounded absurd: Why would legally innocent people — convicted under interpretations of the law that the U.S. Supreme Court later found to be wrong — be denied a chance to seek release from prison?
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July 21, 2023
'Paper Abuse': How Family Courts Feed Coercive Control
Survivors' rights activists say that abusers use the courts to harass and exert control over their former partners. Some states have sought to pass laws curbing the practice. But the lines are tricky to draw, as they pit concerns about weaponizing litigation against due process rights.
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July 21, 2023
Section 8 Tenants Are Using New Laws To Fight Housing Bias
States and cities are increasingly passing laws barring discrimination against tenants who rely on housing assistance vouchers. Now tenants and their advocates are launching a growing number of lawsuits to enforce them.
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July 21, 2023
Justice Sotomayor Slams Decision To Execute Ala. Prisoner
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor blasted her colleagues early Friday for allowing Alabama to use a death row inmate as a guinea pig following the state's "tortuous attempts" to execute other prisoners by lethal injection.
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July 21, 2023
ACLU Says NJ Judge Safety Law Is Used To Chill Free Speech
Days after he questioned the absenteeism of the Police Department director during a City Council meeting, Charlie Kratovil, a seasoned local journalist and self-described advocate in New Brunswick, a city in central New Jersey, received a cease-and-desist letter.
Expert Analysis
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How We Can Equip Our Future Lawyers To Confront Injustice
Law professors must fill gaps in the U.S. legal curriculum by teaching cases and legal theories that can help students understand how the legal system and institutional structures perpetuate inequalities, says Jocelyn Getgen Kestenbaum at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.
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NY Ethics Rule Change Is Good News For Public Interest Attys
Lawyers have always bumped up against a professional conduct rule that prevents them from providing financial help to low-income clients, but New York's pandemic-prompted exception to the rule is a positive step toward mitigating the many hidden expenses that separate rich and poor litigants, say Sateesh Nori and Anita Desai at the Legal Aid Society.
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History Tells Us Black Americans Need Better Legal Protection
Eliminating the legacy of slavery will not be the work of a day or a year, but there are concrete measures Congress can and should take immediately to extend the protection of the law to all Americans, says Jeff Powell at Duke University School of Law.
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Okla. Offers Glimpse Of Eviction Challenges Amid Pandemic
Even in a small state such as Oklahoma, one of the first to reopen amid the pandemic, courthouses are facing the herculean challenge of conducting an escalating number of eviction cases under great restrictions — and it will be worse in larger states, says Keri Norris at LegalShield.
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Police Reform Should Curtail, Not Codify, Qualified Immunity
The Justice in Policing Act passed by the House last week and intended to roll back qualified immunity protections for police officers is not perfect, but it is progress compared to the failed Reforming Qualified Immunity Act that would have clandestinely strengthened the barriers shielding officers from liability, says Edward Ibeh at Akerman.
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How Attys Can Help As Addiction Cases Rise Post-Pandemic
The increase in alcohol and drug consumption during the pandemic is predicted to result in an influx of legal cases, but attorneys can establish a solid defense by ensuring their clients begin the journey to recovery, says Sue Bright at New Directions for Women.
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We Must Do Better Than Hasty Police Reforms
Lawmakers are racing to enact police legislation in response to the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, but this once-in-a-generation opportunity cannot be squandered by hastily drafted bills and rushed changes, says Marisa Darden at Squire Patton.
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Unfairness In Prisoner Litigation Is Baked Into Statute
Inmate litigants have a new hurdle to clear because of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision this month in Lomax v. Ortiz-Marquez, but the court merely did as Congress said in the Prison Litigation Reform Act, says David Shapiro at the Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center.
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Police Reform Must Also Address Federal Law Enforcement
The recently introduced Justice in Policing Act is an important step against police brutality, but without express accountability for federal agents, the bill fails to address a gaping hole in the law, says Cori Alonso-Yoder at the American University Washington College of Law.
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Extended State Foster Care Is A Necessity During COVID-19
Foster children turning 18 in the midst of the pandemic are extremely vulnerable to homelessness and exploitation, so states have an obligation to issue moratoriums on discharging young adults from their care, says Alexandra Dufresne at Zurich University.
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'Unauthorized Practice Of Law' Rules Promote Racial Injustice
By prohibiting nonlawyer professionals from providing meaningful legal assistance, state rules on unauthorized practice of law guarantee that black Americans don't have equal opportunities and rights under the law, and every state supreme court and bar association has the duty to reform them, says Rohan Pavuluri at Upsolve.
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COVID-19 Crisis Brings Opportunity To Improve Legal Aid
The legal community must figure out how to use the adaptations necessitated by the pandemic to permanently improve the legal services delivery model and narrow the justice gap, says Rebecca Rapp at Ascendium Education Group.
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Illinois Must Do More To Protect Consumers In Debt
A recent Illinois Supreme Court order limiting debt collectors' ability to freeze personal bank accounts during the pandemic is progress, but it does not solve the underlying issue that debt courts are rigged against low-income people, says Ashlee Highland at CARPLS Legal Aid.
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The Case Against Solitary Confinement During Pandemic
Prisons and corrections systems must ensure that medical isolation during the pandemic does not devolve into prolonged solitary confinement that unduly burdens the individual liberty of people behind bars, says Marc Levin at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
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Coping With A Pandemic: McCarter & English's Abdul Rehman
As society continues to adapt to COVID-19, Law360 is sharing reactions from around the business and legal community. Today's perspective comes from Newark-based Abdul Rehman Khan, pro bono fellow for the city of Newark at McCarter & English.