PSJD Public Interest News Digest – July 31, 2020
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Interested public. No time for a summary this week; apologies. Major stories are summarized below. Hope this message finds you well.
Take care of one another,
Sam
Editor’s Choice(s)
- At the annual INTER/VIEW social impact jobs fair, Farrah Parkes (Exec. Dir. of New Century Trust) and Omar Woodard (Exec. Dir. of GreenLight Fund Philadelphia) held a panel titled, “If White Nonprofit Culture is Dead, What is its Replacement?”
- Relatedly, NonProfit Quarterly published an article discussing how, “[a]s companies and foundations declare their support of #BlackLivesMatter, there is growing concern that the injection of institutional funding could undermine, rather than further, movement objectives[;]”
“Megan Ming Francis, a political scientist at the University of Washington, has tracked what she calls “movement capture.” She points to how funding of the NAACP starting in the 1920s shifted the organization from a focus on opposing lynching and racist mob violence to a more politically palatable focus on integrating education. During the 1960s civil rights movement, the Ford Foundation sought to neutralize and/or co-opt more radical Black Power organizations, according to Karen Ferguson, a professor of African American studies at Simon Fraser University and the author of Top Down: The Ford Foundation, Black Power, and the Reinvention of Racial Liberals. Now, movement leaders worry that many philanthropies today might have similar intentions.”
COVID-19, Remote Legal Practice, & Decarceration
- In Alberta, “Legal Aid Alberta is making it easier for those facing criminal charges to avoid appearing in person…The new project, which was launched at the beginning of July, gives people free access to duty counsel in the legal-aid office.”
- In Ontario, “[t]he new Legal Aid Services Act, 2020, recently passed by the Ontario Legislature, introduce[d] a modernized framework for Legal Aid Ontario.”
- In New York NY, “a federal judge in the Southern District denied [local public defender services’] request to halt the resumed [non-emergency, non-essential, in-person] proceedings in New York City.”
- In Maryland, “[o]n behalf of the Attorney General’s COVID-19 Access to Justice Task Force, Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh [] sent a letter to Governor Larry Hogan requesting the Governor extend and expand his Executive Orders on eviction, debt collection, and utilities.”
Rule of Law
- In the United States, “[t]he Trump administration is sending additional federal agents and funding to Cleveland, Milwaukee and Detroit, expanding a program that has targeted Democratic-run cities[.]”
- In Portland OR, “[i]n the wake of growing protests, attorneys across the region are stepping in. The National Lawyers Guild is sharing multiple hotlines for those arrested, and criminal defense attorneys are creating a list of those willing to work pro bono.”
- In Columbus OH, “officials in Cleveland have tried to quell public concern about the federal agents that were deployed to the city under the Operation Legend banner, saying that the officers are part of an earlier announced Justice Department initiative and not a Portland-style surge.”
- In Oakland CA, “city officials announced legislation today intended to prevent President Trump from sending federal troops to the city — as he threatened to do last week in response to protests — amid heightened concern following Saturday’s demonstration, vandalism and fire to the Alameda County Courthouse.”
- In New York NY, “[a]n NYPD arrest is sparking controversy after a now viral video shows police arresting a protester and taking off in an unmarked car Tuesday evening in Manhattan.”
- Also in New York NY, “President Donald Trump’s lawyers filed fresh arguments Monday to try to block or severely limit a criminal subpoena for his tax records, calling it a harassment of the president.”
- In Washington DC, “[a] National Guard commander who was present during the forcible clearing of protesters in front of the White House k last month accused the Trump administration of an ‘unprovoked escalation and excessive use of force’ on peaceful protesters, and contradicted key elements of Attorney General Bill Barr’s account — including whether tear gas was used in the incident.”
- Also in Washington DC, “Georgetown Law’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection (ICAP) today rolled out a series of critical resources to help local governments and community members across the country protect public safety while fostering First Amendment-protected activity.”
Legal Technology
- In Washington DC, “[a] preliminary study by a U.S. agency [] found that even the best commercial facial recognition systems have error rates as high as 50% when trying to identify masked faces.”
- In Illinois, “[a] new biometric privacy lawsuit has emerged that names Amazon, Google parent company Alphabet and Microsoft as violators of the state[‘s Biometric Information Privacy Act.]”
- Builtin.com published an article on “[NY hedge fund] Two Sigma’s ‘Data Clinic’, a tech alternative to the legal clinic that offers nonprofits, government agencies and mission-driven organizations pro bono tech and data support.”
- Law.com published part II of its series on “An Ethical Framework for Artificial Intelligence”.
- In New Haven CT, “Stacy Mitchell of the Institute for Local Self Reliance has resigned her fellowship at Yale University’s Thurman Arnold Project…on the heels of a report from Bloomberg that the director of the Thurman Arnold project, Fiona Scott Morton, is a paid adviser to Amazon and Apple. Bloomberg reported that Fiona Scott Morton ‘didn’t disclose those relationships in papers she recently co-authored outlining how the U.S. could bring antitrust cases against Alphabet’s Google and Facebook.’ ”
Non-Profit & Gov’t Management & Hiring
- In New York, “[p]ointing to the current “immense pressure and hardship” faced by nonprofit organizations “as a result of the twin public health crises of COVID-19 and systemic racism,” the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest has released a 2020 tool kit of guides laying out instructional legal information—on a range of topics—for nonprofits.”
- In Connecticut, “[State Senate] Republicans criticized [Governor] Lamont for a new policy they say blocks nonprofits that received funds through the federal Paycheck Protection Program from receiving any additional coronavirus relief money.”
- In Washington DC, “[a] group of six Democratic senators on Wednesday introduced legislation to ensure federal employees have input into how agencies respond to the coronavirus pandemic.”
- Also in Washington DC, “Senate Republicans unveiled a coronavirus relief package on Monday that would help some agencies struggling to collect fees as a result of the current economic downturn, but leave the U.S. Postal Service in the lurch despite its pleas for emergency funding.”
- In Anne Arundel County MD, “[a] Maryland Legal Aid attorney, who left the pro bono law firm unexpectedly last week, said she was fired just days after she and 11 other top attorneys raised concerns about the organization’s plans to reopen its offices to the public for the first time since March.”
Immigration, Refugee, & Citizenship Issues
- In Los Angeles CA, “the Trump administration asked Judge Dolly Gee of the US District Court of Los Angeles to delay the order [mandating ICE release the more than 100 children currently being held in immigration detention] again, but Gee held firm. Her message was clear: Release the children—but don’t even think about ripping them away from their parents without their consent.”
- In New Jersey, “[b]ackers of a two-year-old New Jersey program that provides free legal aid to people in federal immigration detention say it is working, after the rate of release skyrocketed among detainees who had a pro bono attorney.”
- In New York, “[a]dvocates who have been fighting [] to ensure immigrant communities can safely access courthouses won a major victory last week as the New York State Legislature passed the Protect Our Courts Act, which now awaits Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s signature.”
Student Loans & Student Debt
- In the United States, “[c]ome Sept. 30, [student loan] payments will be reinstated and the economy will see a significant impact…[A]s the end of that period draws near, families and students might still be financially insecure because of the pandemic.”
- Also in the United States, “Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, linked the forgiving of student debt [] to dealing with racial inequities in the country.”
- Also also in the United States, “[t]he American Bar Association surveyed more than 1,000 new lawyers, and found that they owed an average $160,000 in student loans. That hefty debt is influencing their career paths and life decisions.”
- In Indianapolis IN, a panel of experts convened in a webinar by the Lumina Foundation concluded that “[t]he way the higher education community thinks about student debt, and student debt of Black borrowers in particular, needs reimagining to no longer blame the individual, but instead focus on what problems within the system lead to such discrepancies in education outcomes and debt loads.”
- In Washington DC, “[t]he U.S. Department of Education recently announced that it has signed contracts with five companies that will work directly with federal student loan borrowers to provide direct customer service and back-office processing support for student and parent borrowers and partners at postsecondary institutions.”
- Also in Washington DC, “Senator Kamala Harris is making the case for Congress to adopt her priorities for the next stimulus package, including $2,000 monthly stimulus checks and student loan forgiveness.”
Access to Justice – Civil & Economic
- In Chicago IL, the President of the ABA wrote that “[w]ithout immediate action, a tidal surge of evictions is likely to leave in its wake a significant increase in homelessness nationally that could overwhelm state and local governments and strain their precious COVID-19 response resources. As with hurricanes, there are preparations and actions that can — and should — be taken to mitigate the effect of the storm of evictions and protect likely victims.”
- In Tennessee, “the Tennessee Supreme Court Access to Justice Commission released its 2020 Strategic Plan, setting goals for the Commission to strive to meet over the next two years…Going forward, the Commission will refocus its efforts and address issues of racism and disparate impact on racial and ethnic minorities head on.”
- In San Francisco CA, “housing and homelessness service providers worry that City Hall’s budget decisions will leave them unprepared to face an expected wave of housing displacement.”
- In Washington DC, “[t]he number of financial complaints filed by consumers in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has risen dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an analysis of the CFPB database by LendEDU[.]”
Access to Justice – Criminal & Decarceration
- In Prince William County VA, “[t]he head of Prince William County’s first public defender’s office hopes to begin accepting cases in September. The office helping defendants in Prince William, Manassas and Manassas Park who can’t afford to hire an attorney was created through a new state law earlier this year.”
- In Lawrence County IN, “[a]fter a turbulent month in which his office was forced to decline cases and pay outside attorney fees, Chief Public Defender Bruce Andis asked the Lawrence County Council Tuesday night to approve another $20,000 in contractual attorney fees[;] council members refused.”
- In Marin County CA, “[a] Superior Court judge has ordered the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to respond urgently to petitions requesting immediate release of 21 people at San Quentin State Prison. The petitions were filed by incarcerated people at San Quentin and attorneys representing people there over the past month.”
Criminal Justice Reform
- In New York NY, the Legal Aid Society released a statement on Twitter providing a strongly-worded response to a New York Post opinion piece from a New York public defender which (in the Legal Aid Society’s words), “takes the position that an anti-racist agenda is a chilling doctrine because it invites discrimination and that the theory of ‘white fragility’ is a ‘small minded book which relentlessly insists all white people are racist and need to think about race all the time.’[:] … This racist perspective is disgusting and results in Black and Brown people being harmed by individuals in public interest roles, who are entrusted with serving Black and Brown clients and their communities.”
- In North Carolina, “[l]aw enforcement agencies and courts across the state are being asked to implement recommendations sent out by the NC Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice.”