Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello, interested public. Welcome to a new academic year. As readers affiliated with schools that subscribe to PSJD.org may be aware, we are beginning a new cycle for our public service platform. The past eighteen months have been hard for us all, and that hardship has worn on each of us differently. For me, this digest has been harder to produce. But as we begin our new cycle here I plan to begin releasing regular updates again, as I had been prior to the pandemic.

We’re diving back in with a jam-packed week of news. The US Supreme Court allowed a federal moratorium on evictions to remain in place, but at least one local court has ruled that this decision does not create a nationwide precedent. The debate over student loan debt forgiveness continues, with forgiveness advocates marshalling evidence that loan forgiveness will have a significant impact on the racial wealth gap. Meanwhile, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reported on debt servicers’ deceptive efforts to prevent borrowers from taking advantage of public service loan forgiveness and researchers revealed that the Department of Education seems more interested in collecting on debts owed by individual student borrowers than by educational institutions. The Biden Administration also made big news concerning government management and hiring with a new Executive Order concerning Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in the federal workforce.

As was our custom, these stories and more are in the links below.

Take care of one another,

Sam

Free & Fair Elections

• In Washington DC, “[a] divided U.S. Supreme Court, narrowing the scope of the Voting Rights Act, on Thursday upheld two Arizona voting laws challenged as racially discriminatory.”

Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Issues

• In New Jersey, the state government “is poised to become the second state in the nation after California to fund a statewide legal support program for unaccompanied minors. State lawmakers earmarked $3 million for legal representation and case management for immigrant youth in their $46 billion plan passed last week.”
• Also in New Jersey, “[t]he American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration[], seeking to block the transfer of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees at a New Jersey jail. The suit is the first legal challenge against a Biden administration immigration policy.”
• In the United States, “[a]ttorneys are still trying to reach the parents of 368 migrant children who had been separated at the US-Mexico border under the Trump administration, down from 391 last month, according to a federal court filing[.]”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In Washington DC, “Elizabeth Warren and John Kennedy said a student-loan servicer CEO may have given false testimony in April.”
• Also in Washington DC, “[m]ore than 60 Democratic lawmakers — led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) — called on President Joe Biden to extend a pause on student loan payments and interest so as not to ‘drag down the pace’ of the country’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic in a letter Wednesday.”
• Also again also in Washington DC, a resolution “unanimously approved by the [city] council [] call[ed] on President Biden to cancel student loan debt. Cities like Boston and Philadelphia have done the same.”
• Also also again also in Washington DC, “[t]he U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a case seeking to overturn a ruling establishing a presumption that private student loans cannot be eliminated in bankruptcy. The June 28 decision comes on the heels of the justices’ denial of another request to weigh in on student loans in bankruptcy.”
• Again also also again also in Washington DC, “[t]he Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) today issued a report highlighting legal violations identified by the Bureau’s examinations in 2020.” Among other issues, “CFPB examiners uncovered significant problems in how student loan servicers informed consumers about the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program…CFPB examiners found a number of ways that student loan servicers gave incorrect information to borrowers, resulting in missteps that could cost consumers thousands of dollars. For example, examiners found servicers misled consumers to believe they could not access PSLF if they had older loans under the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP), even though they could access PSLF by consolidating FFELP loans into Direct Loans.”
• NewsNation reported that “[j]ust around 5% of student loan borrowers who’ve applied for [public service loan forgiveness] as of April 30 have qualified, according to data from the U.S. Department of Education.”
• The National Student Legal Defense Network released a report detailing its “extensive investigation into whether the Department [of Education] has employed collections—comparable to those employed against individual borrowers or otherwise—against institutions with debt owed to the government.” The group asserts that “[w]While the Department aggressively attempts to collect from [individual] borrowers, institutions and their owners and executives walked away from more than a billion dollars owed to taxpayers.”
• At a panel discussion held by the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program, “[p]anelists discussed the disproportionate burden of student debt on low-income, minority, and Black student families,” asserting that “there is a direct relationship between student debt cancellation and minimizing the racial wealth gap.”
• In an opinion piece, the Times Higher Education argued that “while student loan forgiveness might be sexy, it’s not a sustainable solution [because a] one-time fix via executive order – which, theoretically, could be overturned by the next administration – fails both future students and taxpayers.”
• Forbes reported that “[a] new survey of 23,845 federal student loan borrowers shows that 90% aren’t prepared to pay student loans when Covid-19 pandemic student loan relief ends on September 30, 2021. Student Debt Crisis, the nation’s largest student loan debt advocacy organization, conducted the survey and is advocating for President Joe Biden to extend student loan relief in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Pandemic in the Legal System

• In California, “[t]wo dueling visions of remote proceedings in California’s courts are playing out in the state Capitol this summer. And so far, the biggest critics of keeping video technology in courtrooms post-pandemic are winning.”
• In Maryland, “Attorney General Brian E. Frosh (D) urged lawyers in the state to offer free or low-cost legal services during the pandemic recovery, as many residents head to the courts to deal with battles over housing, consumer debt, public benefits and family-law issues such as domestic violence.”
• In Kentucky, “the number of [legal aid] clients shot up by 2,750% [when the pandemic hit] and [] their caseload remains high.”

Non-Profit & Gov’t Management & Hiring

• In Washington DC, the Biden Administration released an “Executive Order on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in the Federal Workforce.”
  • For context, GovExec reported that “[t]he order builds on a series of edicts undertaken during the Obama administration, as well as Biden’s own efforts to restore diversity training at federal agencies and crack down on discrimination since he took office in January. But it also charts new territory in how it tries to improve recruitment, retention and professional development of underserved communities, including providing more comprehensive health coverage to LGBTQ+ federal workers, boosting protections for feds with disabilities and pushing agencies to transition from unpaid to paid internships.”
• Also in Washington DC, “White House internships could finally become paid, making them accessible to lower-income applicants[.]”
• Again also in Washington DC, “[t]he Supreme Court has struck down a lower court’s ruling and held that two California charities need not disclose the names of their top donors to the state.”
• In Oklahoma, “[a] lawsuit claiming the Oklahoma Bar Association’s mandatory bar dues violate attorneys’ First Amendment rights to freedom of association was revived after the Tenth Circuit found Tuesday the group might engage in ideological activities unrelated to its core purpose.”
• In a Letter to the Editor, the Chronicle of Philanthrophy published a rebuttal to a recent op-ed in part of an ongoing debate over whether nonprofit salaries should be disclosed in job ads.
• In Portland ME, “[a] federal appeals court has ruled that the Council on International Educational Exchange does not have to refund the costs of study abroad programs cut short by the global pandemic. Court documents show the Portland-based nonprofit sent about 4,000 students home last spring when COVID-19 began to spread around the world…Only those students who could not finish their classes virtually were considered for refunds[.]”

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In Washington DC, “[t]he Supreme Court [] allowed a federal moratorium on evictions imposed in response to the coronavirus pandemic to remain in place.”
  • Meanwhile, in Washington State, “[i]n the[ir] 2021 session, state lawmakers passed a measure guaranteeing tenants have a right to legal counsel in eviction cases. It was the first state in the nation to pass such a bill.”
  • Meanwhile in Toledo OH, “on the day the Supreme Court left a federal eviction moratorium intact in Washington…Toledo followed an earlier ruling by the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals that lifted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s eviction moratorium…[The judge in that case wrote] in his decision that the Supreme Court was acting in its capacity to assist the District of Columima Circuit appeals court, not establishing a nationwide ruling.”
  • Meanwhile, in Iowa “[n]early 41,000 Iowans fear they face eviction or foreclosure once a federal moratorium is lifted, according to federal census survey data.”
  • Meanwhile, in Illinois “[e]victions have resumed[], and while some tenants are still protected others are now getting notices.”
  • Meanwhile, Cleveland OH, the city’s right-to-counsel in evictions program “is showing early signs of success. According to an interim report on the program[], about 93 percent of the RTC clients who faced an eviction or involuntary move were able to avoid being displaced because of the legal representation they received.”
  • Meanwhile, in Milwaukee WI “a new pilot program…promis[ing] free legal representation for those facing eviction [began this week].”
  • Meanwhile, in Los Angeles CA “[a]s the 2021-22 fiscal year begins in Los Angeles today, so does the city’s new COVID-19 eviction defense program to offer free legal representation, counseling and education workshops for city renters who make 80% or less of the area median income and have been impacted by the pandemic.”
  • Meanwhile, in Wayne County MI “[t]he Neighborhood Defender Service of Detroit announced the launch of its Eviction Defense Practice slated to begin this fall, as housing assistance in the COVID-19 pandemic remains a top need.”
  • Meanwhile, in Maine “a new bill signed by Gov. Mills [requires] landlords who serve an eviction notice [] to provide a list of resources about rental assistance, legal aid, and court procedures.”
• In Boise ID, “the Idaho Supreme Court, in a unanimous opinion…agreed…that the Magistrate Court’s issuing arrest warrants for failure to pay court debt—without first conducting an ability-to-pay hearing—violates the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution pursuant to the United States Supreme Court’s ruling in Bearden v. Georgia , 461 U.S. 660 (1983), as well as the Idaho Constitution.”
• In Indiana, “[a] state judge has ruled that Indiana must continue to pay pandemic unemployment benefits to roughly 230,000 Hoosiers until a lawsuit challenging the early termination of the compensation is decided.”
• In Texas, “Texas RioGrande Legal Aid recently submitted an official request — a potential precursor to litigation — to the Texas Workforce Commission asking that it correct ‘systemic issues’ that the legal aid group says have resulted in ‘repeated failure to deliver unemployment benefits (since the pandemic began) in the manner required by state and federal law.’”
• In Florida, “[a] ruling from the Florida Supreme Court puts limits on how legal aid clinics can use their funds, potentially restricting the aid available to low-income Floridians who need representation in civil court.”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Arizona, a defendant’s “previously denied petition challenging his death sentence due to inadequate counsel, was reversed and approved by the Ninth Circuit Court[.]…The court stated that the counsel’s request for a mental health expert was not requested ‘in a more timely manner.’ [and] gathered that ‘there is at least a reasonable probability that development and presentation of mental health expert testimony would have changed the result of the sentencing proceeding.’ “
• In Fort Lee County FL, “felony case defendants who were part of a class action suit claiming a violation of civil rights caused by a malware attack at the public defender’s office in April have been trimmed to one.”
• In Brooklyn NY, “[s]ome 400 attorneys, civil advocates, social workers, investigators, support staff and other workers at the Brooklyn, New York, public defender’s office are seeking to unionize with the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys.”

Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform

• In Minnesota, “Attorney General Keith Ellison, whose office is increasingly being asked to lead police prosecutions, is again meeting legislative resistance in his bid to build up his office’s criminal division.”
• In Bexar County, TX, “Bexar County Public Defender Michael Young argued in a court filing that ‘Governor Abbott’s executive order GA-13 violates the separation of powers doctrine[.]’” GA-13 prevents sherrifs from releasing anyone arrested for or convicted of a crime of physical violence, and has prevented Texas counties from reducing jail populations during the pandemic. Texas Public Radio reported that “Harris County judges sued Abbott over the order in April 2020, but the Texas Supreme Court found they lacked standing.”