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Access to Justice
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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.
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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.
Expert Analysis
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Better Civil Legal Resources Are Key To Justice For All
Fulfilling the promise of equal justice requires disruptive change to the civil legal system, where millions of Americans lack adequate resources and information — and attorneys have many opportunities to help their states build the tools necessary to navigate civil disputes, say retired California Judge Laurie Zelon and Michigan Chief Justice Bridget Mary McCormack.
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User Feedback Is Key To Running Virtual Diversion Programs
Judicially led diversion programs have adapted to the COVID-19 era by providing services online, but recent research points to a disconnect between practitioner and participant perspectives, showing that soliciting user input is crucial to success, says Tara Kunkel at Rulo Strategies.
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Justices Must Reject Police Shield Against Civil Rights Claims
The Institute for Justice’s Marie Miller lays out four reasons why, in deciding Thompson v. Clark, the U.S. Supreme Court should reverse an arcane circuit court rule that abandons the foundational presumption of innocence principle and ultimately provides a shield for police and other government officers who violate constitutional rights.
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NY Courts Should Protect Housing Rights Of All Tenants
New York courts should adopt a construction of the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act that expands on the rights of tenants without a traditional landlord-tenant relationship, in order to not only promote justice, but also adhere to the law as written, say law student Giannina Crosby, and professors Sateesh Nori and Julia McNally, at NYU Law.
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Legally Recognizing Coercive Control Can Help Abuse Victims
The ongoing expansion of state laws to establish coercive control as a form of domestic violence will encourage victims to seek help, and require law enforcement and the judiciary to learn about the complexities surrounding emotional abuse, say attorneys Allison Mahoney and Lindsay Lieberman.
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High Court Gun Case Has Implications For Police Violence
A U.S. Supreme Court decision to weaken gun regulations in the pending New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Corlett could mix with the court's existing precedents regarding police use of force to form a particularly lethal cocktail for police violence against Black people, says Christopher Wright Durocher at the American Constitution Society.
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Justices' Life Sentence Ruling Is A Step Back For Youth Rights
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent refusal to limit juvenile life-without-parole sentences in Jones v. Mississippi is a break from a line of cases that cut back on harsh punishments for children and reflects a court that is comfortable with casual treatment of minors' constitutional rights, says Brandon Garrett at Duke University School of Law.
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States Must Factor Race In COVID-19 Vaccine Prioritization
In order to ensure equity and efficiency in controlling the pandemic, states should use race as a factor in vaccine prioritization — and U.S. Supreme Court precedent on affirmative action and racial integration offers some guidance on how such policies might hold up in court, say law professors Maya Manian and Seema Mohapatra.
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Chauvin May Walk, But Calls For Police Reform Must Continue
As the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for the death of George Floyd nears closing arguments, the prosecution still faces an uphill battle, but what sets this case apart is its potential to change the discourse on racial justice and policing, says Christopher Brown at The Brown Firm.
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A Criminal Justice Reform Premise That Is Statistically Flawed
Underlying calls for defunding the police and numerous other proposals for criminal justice reform is the belief that generally reducing adverse outcomes will tend to reduce racial disparities, but statistical analysis shows the opposite is true, says attorney James Scanlan.
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Improving Protections For Immigrant Domestic Abuse Victims
With the slow crawl of federal immigration reform, people vulnerable to immigration status threats from domestic abusers continue to feel the effects of hostile Trump administration policies, but 2019 amendments to the D.C. blackmail statute reveal the ways state laws can provide more effective relief, say Ashley Carter and Richard Kelley at the DC Volunteer Lawyers Project.
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Tougher Petition Drive Laws Would Constrict Key Citizen Right
Several states' proposed revisions to petition drive rules would make ballot initiatives harder to pass and rein in citizens' right to enact important policy changes, says Melanie Wilson Rughani at Crowe & Dunlevy.
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Garland Alone Cannot Transform Our Criminal Legal System
Attorney general nominee Merrick Garland is an encouraging choice for criminal justice reform advocates, but the work of transforming our racially fraught institutions falls largely on prosecutors and defenders, say former prosecutor Derick Dailey, now at Davis & Gilbert, and public defender Brandon Ruben.
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DOJ Charging Memo Rescission Aids Prosecutorial Discretion
The U.S. Department of Justice's recent rescission of a 2017 memo that required prosecutors to charge federal defendants with the offenses that would carry the most severe penalties should be welcomed by prosecutors associations as supporting prosecutorial discretion, even when the new policy may lead to leniency, says Marc Levin at the Council on Criminal Justice.
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A Critical Step Toward Eliminating Profit Motive From Prisons
President Joe Biden's recent executive order to phase out the federal government's use of private prisons is a welcome start to what needs to be a broad reform of the prison system — where profit-based incentives to incarcerate run deep, says Jeffrey Bornstein at Rosen Bien.