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Access to Justice
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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
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August 25, 2023
Sentencing Commission Backs Retroactive Cuts For 1st Timers
A divided U.S. Sentencing Commission has voted to retroactively apply changes to sentencing guidelines that will allow potentially thousands of defendants who were sentenced as first-time offenders to petition courts for a reduction in their prison terms.
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August 25, 2023
4 Questions For The ABA's Next Criminal Justice Chair
Tina Luongo, The Legal Aid Society of New York City's top criminal defender, is approaching their new position as chair of the American Bar Association's criminal justice section with an eye on issues like keeping prosecutors and public defenders in their jobs at a time of significant attrition.
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August 24, 2023
4th Circ. Says Treaty Doesn't Support Lithuanian's Extradition
A split Fourth Circuit panel on Thursday revived a Lithuanian man's bid to avoid extradition, ruling that Lithuania did not comply with the terms of a treaty with the U.S. requiring it to provide a document showing that the man had been criminally judged.
Expert Analysis
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Barrett Should Be Questioned On Children's Access To Courts
At a time when children's lives are so threatened by avoidable climate change chaos, understanding U.S. Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett's views on what standing future generations have to seek declaratory relief in Article III courts should be an essential part of her confirmation hearings, says Julia Olson at Our Children's Trust.
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A Smarter Approach To Measuring Prosecutorial Success
To improve their ability to dispense justice, prosecutors should measure the efficacy of their work based on metrics such as caseload distribution, timely case handling and racial disparity trends — instead of the traditionally used conviction rates and number of trials, say Anthony Thompson at the New York University School of Law and Miriam Krinsky at Fair and Just Prosecution.
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States Shouldn't Hinder Local Gov'ts In COVID-19 Tenant Aid
In the face of increasing state preemption and absent other government intervention, states should explicitly allow city and county policymakers to help renters in order to avoid a pandemic-prompted eviction crisis, say Emily Benfer at Wake Forest University School of Law and Nestor Davidson at Fordham University School of Law.
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An Abuse Of Prosecutorial Discretion In Breonna Taylor Case
The prosecution's decision in the Breonna Taylor grand jury proceedings to present a crucial, disputed fact — whether the officers knocked and announced themselves when they arrived at Taylor's apartment — as a settled question represents the partiality police officers often enjoy from prosecutors, says attorney Geoffrey D. Kearney.
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Immigration Appeals Proposal Would Erode Due Process
A recent Trump administration proposal to limit appellate review of immigration cases would eviscerate the few existing legal protections for immigrants and asylum seekers at a time when they are already routinely denied due process in court, says Lynn Pearson at the Tahirih Justice Center.
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11th Circ. Ruling Doesn't Lower Qualified Immunity Bar
While a video recording in Cantu v. City of Dothan — a recent Eleventh Circuit case involving a fatal shooting by a police officer — allowed the plaintiffs to clear the difficult qualified immunity hurdle, the court's ruling does not make it easier for most victims to surmount the defense, says Adriana Collado-Hudak at Greenspoon Marder.
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Reforming Public Defense Is Crucial For Criminal Justice
By resisting investment in public defender offices, states and counties are overlooking the best opportunity to ensure justice for vulnerable criminal defendants and ferret out police, prosecutors and judges who cut corners — but there is some movement on the ground that warrants cautious optimism, says Jonathan Rapping at Atlanta's John Marshall Law School.
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COVID-19 Crisis Should Steer NY Toward Better Court System
Over the last six months, it has become clear that many New York court proceedings can happen remotely, and we can use these new technological capabilities to create a more humane, efficient and economically responsible court system, says Joseph Frumin at The Legal Aid Society.
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Pretrial Risk Assessment Is Biased And Indefensible
The Conference of Chief Justices' continuing support for the use of problematic pretrial risk assessment algorithms designed to predict criminal behavior has exacerbated disparities in the justice system and has likely increased incarceration across the U.S., says Jeffrey Clayton at the American Bail Coalition.
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To Eliminate Food Inequality, We Must Confront The Past
To tackle low-income communities' decadeslong struggle with access to healthy food, which the COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated, we must first understand how food deserts are a product of policies that perpetuate racial segregation, says Jessica Giesen at Kelley Kronenberg.
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Cincinnati's Progress Can Be A Model For 2020 Police Reform
Cincinnati has come a long way since the 2001 unrest following the police killings of two unarmed Black men, and the city's comprehensive revision of police practices can inform local and state policymakers seeking a way forward from the current turmoil, says former Cincinnati Mayor Charlie Luken now at Calfee Halter.
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Legal Deserts Threaten Justice In Rural America
Many small towns and rural counties have few lawyers or none at all, which threatens the notion of justice for all Americans and demands creative solutions from legislators, bar associations and law schools, says Patricia Refo, president of the American Bar Association.
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Uncertainties In Gerrymandering Jurisprudence Are Unfair
With the decennial census underway and the corresponding redistricting cycle closely approaching, it is critical that we examine the current state of gerrymandering jurisprudence and how those challenging a redistricting plan as racially motivated have very little recourse, says Tal Aburos at Levine Kellogg.
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Minn. Should Consider Another Charge In George Floyd Case
The Minnesota prosecutors who have charged Derek Chauvin with felony murder for the death of George Floyd are running the risk that the case will be dismissed on solid but esoteric grounds — while ignoring a different murder charge that would stand up to legal scrutiny, says Kyron Huigens at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.
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US Has A Legal Obligation To Provide Reparations For Slavery
The United States can no longer foreclose the possibility of recompense for African American victims of its legacy of racism while maintaining its international leadership on such issues as human rights and respect for the rule of law, say Arif Ali and David Attanasio at Dechert and Camilo Sanchez at the University of Virginia School of Law.