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Access to Justice
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October 11, 2024
Seattle Police Guild Tells Judge Shooting Didn't Warrant Firing
A Seattle police officers' union argued in Washington state court on Friday a former cop acted reasonably when she shot at a suspect fleeing in a stolen vehicle, defending an arbitrator's decision to downgrade her firing to a 60-day suspension amid a challenge by the city.
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October 09, 2024
Justices Fear Harm To Atty Reputations In Death Penalty Case
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas expressed concern Wednesday about the reputational harm two former Oklahoma prosecutors were facing in light of the state's claim that they withheld evidence and presented false testimony to secure the conviction of a prisoner on death row — allegations over which the justices seem likely to order further proceedings.
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October 09, 2024
DC Judge Sanctions DOD For Destroying Gitmo Tapes
A D.C. federal judge on Tuesday sanctioned the Pentagon for destroying dozens of video recordings of the torture of a Palestinian man imprisoned in Guantánamo Bay, barring the Pentagon from rebutting the man's testimony of what he endured.
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October 08, 2024
Dem Rep. Reintroduces Death Row Appeal Bill
U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., announced Tuesday that he is reintroducing a bill that would ensure inmates on death row would have the opportunity to present new evidence pointing to their innocence.
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October 08, 2024
Ex-Cop Guilty Of Excessive Force After Officers Testify
A federal jury in Indianapolis has convicted a former New Castle, Indiana, police officer of excessive force and witness tampering after a series of incidents in which prosecutors said he assaulted a suspect and two imprisoned persons, then lied to a state police detective.
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October 08, 2024
Justices Divided Over 'Prevailing Party' Status For Atty Fees
The U.S. Supreme Court appeared noncommital on Tuesday while grappling with what constitutes a "prevailing party" for the purpose of awarding attorney fees in civil rights lawsuits, a question that has broad implications for both government agencies and legal advocacy groups.
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October 02, 2024
Atty 'Malfeasance' Upends NY Manslaughter Conviction
A New York state judge reversed a manslaughter conviction against a man who says he mistakenly killed his friend, ordering a retrial after it was revealed his then-attorney concealed information he obtained about the trial judge's concerns with the defense's case.
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October 02, 2024
Legal Services Corp. Counsel Joins Steptoe As Pro Bono Atty
Carolyn Perez, who had supervised volunteer attorneys on pro bono representative matters at Legal Services Corporation, has joined Steptoe's D.C. team as pro bono counsel.
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September 27, 2024
As Climate Change Fuels Disasters, Legal Aid Needs Grow
As the number of extreme weather events increases amid a changing climate, nonprofit legal organizations that serve low-income legal clients project increased demand for services related to natural disasters.
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September 27, 2024
Texas Judge Lets Paxton Probe Of Immigration Nonprofit Go On
Nonprofit legal services provider Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center lost a bid on Friday to halt the Texas attorney general's investigation of the organization's activities, with a federal judge saying the group waited too long to file its complaint.
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September 27, 2024
Texas Bar Seeks Non-Atty Rule Changes To Fill Justice Gap
The State Bar of Texas on Friday laid out a series of proposed changes to pending rules set forth by the state Supreme Court for allowing non-attorneys to perform some legal services, citing the need to increase the educational requirements and prohibit certain fee arrangements.
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September 26, 2024
Immigrant Legal Aid Group Sues Over Texas AG's Probe
The nonprofit legal services provider Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday accusing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton of trying to chill protected activity — suing two days before it was due to turn over information from the low-income immigrants it serves to the AG.
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September 26, 2024
Pro Bono Attorney Hub Paladin Teams With JusticeServer
Free legal assistance platform Paladin announced a partnership with JusticeServer, a case management solution, to connect volunteers and clients seamlessly between the two software providers.
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September 25, 2024
Ohio Judge Removed For Jailing People Over Court Costs
The Ohio Supreme Court removed a state municipal judge from the bench and suspended him from practicing law for 18 months after he jailed two people for failing to pay court costs and coerced 14 others into paying fines and costs by threatening to lock them up without due process.
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September 19, 2024
8th Circ. Says No Detention Time Limit For Deportees
The Eighth Circuit has ruled that a district court wrongly determined that the due process rights of an Ivory Coast native convicted of robbery were violated after he spent a year in federal custody waiting for a removal decision.
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September 19, 2024
Pro Bono Platform Launches Election Protection Portal
Free legal assistance platform Paladin announced the launch of a new volunteer portal for attorneys and other professionals focused on election protection.
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September 06, 2024
New Public Counsel Leader On Her Vision To Advance Justice
Kathryn Eidmann has a vision for the future of Public Counsel, the nation's largest provider of pro bono legal services, as she takes over as the organization's new leader: to use its focus on individual client advocacy to advance its more systemic goals for racial and economic justice.
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September 05, 2024
Wash. Bar Backs Experiment For Nonlawyers To Practice
The Washington State Bar wants to relax the rules on who can practice law, in what it hopes will allow businesses not run by lawyers the chance to innovate how the industry provides legal services and expand who is able to afford them.
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August 28, 2024
LA Atty Accused Of Bilking Inmates With False Freedom Hope
A Los Angeles attorney accused of raking in thousands of dollars by giving inmates and their families intentionally misleading information about their chances for resentencing after convictions for violent crimes faces an 18-count disciplinary complaint filed this week by the State Bar of California.
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August 19, 2024
Ariz. Sheriff Can't Ax Racial Profiling Injunction, 9th Circ. Says
The Ninth Circuit on Monday kept in place a permanent injunction in a class action alleging the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office in Arizona racially profiled Latinos for traffic stops under the guise of immigration enforcement, saying the district court was within its powers to assign an independent monitor.
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August 19, 2024
Philly To Pay $25M For Breaking Prison Conditions Settlement
A federal judge has ordered Philadelphia to set aside $25 million to ramp up recruitment and retention efforts for the city's Department of Prisons, just over a month after the court found the city in contempt of a settlement in a lawsuit over prison conditions.
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August 15, 2024
New Study Shows No Link Between Bail Reform, Crime Rates
Bail reform has had no statistical impact on crime rates across the country, according to a recent study released by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law.
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August 15, 2024
Feds, NJ Judiciary Reach Deal Over Language Access Bias
The New Jersey judiciary has reached a settlement to resolve a federal investigation into alleged discrimination against non-English speakers in Monmouth County court, agreeing to increase training and translation services systemwide, according to an announcement Thursday.
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August 14, 2024
9th Circ. Appears Skeptical Of Ex-Assistant DA's Firing Suit
The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday seemed chilly to a former San Francisco assistant district attorney's claim that he was booted from his post as punishment for blowing the whistle on misconduct, with judges saying he hadn't drawn a clear connection between speaking out and getting fired.
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August 13, 2024
LA Prosecutor Sues DA Over Handling Of Sex Assault Case
A Los Angeles County deputy district attorney has filed a whistleblower retaliation lawsuit in California state court against District Attorney George Gascón and Los Angeles County, alleging that he was targeted for exposing misconduct within the DA's office over its handling of a high-profile sex assault case.
A Jury Found Them Not Guilty. They're Still Serving Life
Despite a federal jury acquitting Terence Richardson and Ferrone Claiborne for the murder of a Virginia police officer nearly 25 years ago, the two men remain in prison for the crime. But with new evidence and a new lawyer, they're hoping to reverse the fraught, state-level guilty pleas that a federal judge later relied on to sentence them both to life behind bars.
Baltimore, DC Legal Wins Help Curb Police Property Seizures
In a span of less than two weeks this summer, a coalition of nonprofit civil rights litigators and private pro bono counsel notched a pair of legal victories in cases over two mid-Atlantic city police departments’ property seizure. Lawyers have expressed hope the impact could reach past their communities.
'He Says, She Says' In Harvey Weinstein's America
The controversial decision by New York's highest court to overturn Harvey Weinstein's sexual assault conviction has some lawmakers focusing intense new scrutiny on centuries-old legal jurisprudence barring evidence of a defendant's criminal propensity.
Problems Linger Amid Efforts To Clean Up Debt Firm's Mess
After the collapse of a California debt relief firm last year amid allegations of fraud, a bankruptcy judge signed off on a plan to allow a new firm to begin providing services for thousands of affected clients. While the new firm has promised to clean up its predecessor’s mess, some consumers say little to nothing has changed, and now enforcement agencies including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have started asking questions.
Expert Analysis
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DC Circ. Seizure Ruling Deepens 4th Amendment Circuit Split
The D.C. Circuit’s recent Asinor v. District of Columbia decision, holding that the government’s continued possession of seized property must be reasonable, furthers a split among circuit courts and portends how the text, history and tradition method might influence Fourth Amendment cases, say Ty Howard and Wayne Beckermann at Bradley Arant.
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How To Use Geofence Warrants In A Constitutional Manner
Ensuring that court-issued geofence search warrants minimize infringements on innocent individuals' rights, and uphold the principles underlying the Fourth Amendment, involves striking a balance that includes treating digital information as property, says Robert Frommer at Institute for Justice.
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2 High Court Rulings Boost Protections Against Gov't Reprisal
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions in Gonzalez v. Trevino and Chiaverini v. City of Napoleon significantly strengthen legal protections against retaliatory arrests and malicious prosecution, and establish clear precedents that promote accountability in law enforcement, say Corey Stoughton and Amanda Miner at Selendy Gay.
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High Court Ruling Leaves Chance For Civil Forfeiture Reform
Though advocates for civil forfeiture reform did not prevail in Culley v. Marshall last month, concerns voiced by a majority of the U.S. Supreme Court justices potentially leave the door open to consider stricter limits in future cases, say attorneys at Dykema.
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NY Chief Judge Spotlights Need To Strengthen Public Defense
In a recent concurrence in People v. Watkins, New York Chief Judge Rowan Wilson called attention to the necessity for greater investment in public defense services, highlighting not only the urgency of current crises, but the need to embrace a more ambitious vision of equal right to counsel, says Corey Stoughton at Selendy Gay.
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Justices' 1st Post-Bruen Gun Ruling Provides Little Guidance
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in U.S. v. Rahimi that domestic abusers can be prohibited from owning guns — its first chance to clarify the new gun rights test it established in its 2022 Bruen decision — will not do much to help lower courts because it didn’t resolve one of the biggest open issues involving the Second Amendment, says Michael McCarthy at Kendall Brill.
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DOJ Must Be Transparent With Its Death-In-Custody Data
In two lawsuits, the Justice Department is fighting news organizations’ efforts to disclose the data it collects about deaths in custody — a counterproductive position against transparency at odds with officials' statements recognizing that such data is necessary to save lives, says David Janovsky at the Project on Government Oversight.
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Justices' Repeat Offender Ruling Eases Prosecutorial Hurdle
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last week in Brown v. U.S., clarifying which drug law applies to sentencing a repeat offender in a federal firearms case, allows courts to rely on outdated drug schedules to impose increased sentences, thus removing a significant hurdle for prosecutors, says attorney Molly Parmer.
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Congress Must Abolish Acquitted Conduct Sentencing
The U.S. Sentencing Commission’s recent amendment, limiting judges’ ability to consider acquitted conduct at sentencing, is a necessary step toward ensuring fairer trials and protecting individual rights, but ultimately, Congress must end the practice altogether, say Marc Levin at the Council on Criminal Justice and Martín Sabelli at the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
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Trauma-Informed Legal Approaches For Pro Bono Attorneys
As National Trauma Awareness Month ends, pro bono attorneys should nevertheless continue to acknowledge the mental and physical effects of trauma, allowing them to better represent clients, and protect themselves from compassion fatigue and burnout, say Katherine Cronin at Stinson and Katharine Manning at Blackbird.
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Public Interest Attorneys Are Key To Preserving Voting Rights
Fourteen states passed laws restricting or limiting voting access last year, highlighting the need to support public interest lawyers who serve as bulwarks against such antidemocratic actions — especially in an election year, says Verna Williams at Equal Justice Works.
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Officers' Failure To Appear In Court Undermines Justice
Ten years of data from Philadelphia show that police officers frequently fail to appear at court hearings for which they’re subpoenaed, which has numerous consequences for defendants, crime victims and the smooth functioning of the criminal legal system, say Lindsay Graef, Sandra Mayson and Aurelie Ouss at the University of Pennsylvania and Megan Stevenson at the University of Virginia.
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Criminal Defendants Should Have Access To Foreign Evidence
A New Jersey federal court recently ordered prosecutors to obtain evidence from India on behalf of the former Cognizant Technology executives they’re prosecuting — a precedent that other courts should follow to make cross-border evidentiary requests more fair and efficient, say Kaylana Mueller-Hsia and Rebecca Wexler at UC Berkeley School of Law.
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Justices' Forfeiture Ruling Resolves Nonexistent Split
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in McIntosh v. U.S., holding that a trial court’s failure to enter a preliminary criminal forfeiture order prior to sentencing doesn’t bar its entry later, is unusual in that it settles an issue on which the lower courts were not divided — but it may apply in certain forfeiture disputes, says Stefan Cassella at Asset Forfeiture Law.
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Advocating For Disability Rights In Probation And Parole
While the U.S. continues to over-police people with disabilities, defense attorneys can play a crucial role in ensuring that clients with disabilities who are on probation or parole have access to the accommodations they need and to which they are legally entitled, says Allison Frankel at the ACLU.