PSJD Public Interest News Digest – April 12, 2019
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Awa Sowe, PSJD Fellow
Hello, interested public! The digest a bit late today, and a bit short, as Awa and I are at NALP’s Annual Education Conference in San Diego. (I couldn’t have completed this edition without the help of Awa Sowe, our 2018-2019 PSJD Fellow. Thanks Awa!) You may hear more about this week, next week.
As for this edition of the digest, highlights include a sweeping new proposal concerning Public Service Loan Forgiveness from Senators Gillibrand and Kaine and a law review article from David Udell summarizing last fall’s A2J Summit in New York City.
And if you’re in San Diego for the conference as well and you haven’t already tracked me down to say hi, you still have a chance. Just sayin’.
See you around,
Sam
Immigration, Refugee & Citizenship Issues
- In California, “Judge Richard Seeborg of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted a preliminary injuction of the Trump administration’s Migrant Protection Protocols requiring non-Mexican migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. to be deported to Mexico while their request is processed.“
- In New York NY, the Immigrant Defense Project reported that “[t]he increased presence of federal immigration officers in and around New York state courts has led to a sharp decline in equal access to litigation and the use of legal services by undocumented immigrants.” They are calling for “the Office of Court Administration to immediately promulgate a rule requiring those officers to obtain a federal judicial arrest warrant before entering state courts to make an arrest.”
- In New York NY, “[a] 2-year-old state program that provides free legal services for immigrants will expand thanks to $10 million included in the new state budget.“
Student Debts & Loans
- In Washington DC, “U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Tim Kaine (D-VA) introduced a new bill [] which would rework the current Public Service Loan Forgiveness program…to expand the number of people who can qualify for the program and receive student loan forgiveness.” You can also read the bill.
- Also in Washington DC, “Twenty-one state attorneys general are asking Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to end a recent decision to withhold student loan information from their offices and other law enforcement agencies.”
Legal Technology
- In the Fordham Law Review, David Udell of the National Center for Access to Justice summarized many ideas and outcomes from the “A2J Summit” his organization and Fordham’s A2J initiative hosted last fall.
- In California, at a meeting of the State Bar’s Task Force on Access Through Innovation of Legal Services, Rebecca Sandefur argued that “the potential for the technologies to assist Americans with their civil justice problems has largely gone unrealized.“
Access to Justice – Civil
- In Los Angeles CA, “a coalition of tenant advocates and community activists pressed for the city to move forward with a “right to counsel” ordinance and called on Mayor Eric Garcetti to allocate $10 million to assist tenants in his upcoming budget.“
- In Ontario, the provinical Law Society expressed “grave[] concern[] over the Ontario Government’s plans to cut funding to Legal Aid Ontario by over 30 per cent, as outlined today in the provincial budget [and] will address its concerns directly with the Attorney General, with the goal that she reconsider and recalibrate the depth of these funding cuts.”
Access to Justice- Criminal
- In New York NY, “[t]he New York City Council’s budget response to Mayor Bill de Blasio included $15 million to support parity in pay between local defender and legal services offices with the city’s Corporation Counsel, but the former group of attorneys says there should be more.”
- In Kansas, “a record 1 in 4 public defenders quit last fiscal year, with many blaming high caseloads and low salaries.” The Kansas Board of Indigents’ Defense Services’ executive director stated that “[t]he agency is in crisis… the resignation rate for the fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2018, is the highest her agency has seen since its creation in 1982.”
Criminal Justice Reform
- In Texas, “Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot says his office will no longer prosecute a number of cases in an attempt to end “mass incarceration” in Dallas County, fulfilling a campaign promise he made last fall.”
- In New York NY, “[t]he chief prosecutor of New York City’s most populous borough, Brooklyn, is backing an effort to decriminalize prostitution, arrests for which, according to a state senator advocating for the change, disproportionately impact black women.“
- In Utah, “[t]he new top prosecutor in Utah’s second-largest county is planning a program to get low-level suspects into drug treatment or community service without ever filing criminal charges against them.“
- Law360 reviewed the progressive prosecutor movement, commenting that: “In most cases, it is too early to measure the impact of their policies, but the prosecutors are already making waves in the criminal justice system and forcing a re-evaluation of the question: What makes an effective prosecutor?”