Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello, interested public!

Life continues to be interesting. In Washington, the Biden Administration is strategizing with civil society lawyers on how to protect people seeking abortions post-Dobbs, while also delaying a promised decision on student loan forgiveness until the end of August. Meanwhile, new reporting suggests that Trump allies are planning changes to the federal civil service (if Trump is re-elected) that commenters are characterizing as a “purge”. Public defenders in New York State are on track for a pay increase that will see their spending power rise relative to inflation, while federal employees’ pay increase may not be sufficient to keep up with the times. And the nationwide struggle over the future of progressive prosecution continues. All these stories and more are in the links below.

Take care of one another,

Sam

Editor’s Choices

• In Washington DC, “more than two dozen advocacy groups said in a letter sent to President Joe Biden” that “[p]an-coronavirus vaccine technology currently in development by the U.S. military must remain public and should be shared with the world[:] ‘Current production and distribution agreements have empowered corporations while limiting the promise of life-saving coronavirus vaccines,” said Timi Iwayemi, senior researcher for the Revolving Door Project. “Continuing down a path that restricts widespread manufacturing and distribution of COVID vaccines would lead to unnecessary deaths and easier opportunities for the virus to mutate.’”
• Also in Washington DC, “[f]ormer aides close to President Trump are working to revive and expand his signature proposal to upend the federal civil service, according to a new report, and are working in conjunction with the former commander in chief to quickly purge thousands of federal employees if he were to return to office.”

Reproductive Justice

• In Washington DC, “[t]he White House and Justice Department [] will host their first meeting with outside lawyers to discuss how to protect those who seek abortions from legal repercussions [thirteen weeks after receiving advance warning and five weeks after] after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade.”
  • Relatedly, The Marshall Project explored how “[i]n rescinding the 49-year-old constitutional right to abortion care, the [Supreme C]ourt ‘suddenly dumped the abortion question back into the realm of criminal law.’”
• Also in Washington DC, “Democratic Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri plans to introduce legislation that would establish a new reproductive health office in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and provide grant money to reproductive care services.”
• Again also in Washington DC, “Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has backed out of teaching a seminar at George Washington University’s law school in the nation’s capital, following student protests and the university’s statement of support for the conservative justice’s role on campus.”
• In Cheyenne WY, “[a] lawsuit filed [] by a Casper women's health clinic and others seeks to block Wyoming's new abortion ban just before it's scheduled to take effect. The lawsuit claims the new law violates the state constitution with restrictions that will discourage potentially lifesaving pregnancy healthcare in Wyoming, forcing pregnant women to go to other states for necessary procedures.”

Climate Crisis

• In St. Paul MN, “Republican-endorsed attorney general candidate Jim Schultz is calling on Democratic incumbent Keith Ellison to reject activist requests to review criminal cases tied to oil pipeline protests as a special prosecutor.”
• In Austin TX, “Environmentalist groups and their allies held a press conference…to pressure Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton into litigating polluters.”
• In Massachusetts, “Biden announced millions of dollars in funding for climate change measures, including upgrading infrastructure, weatherizing buildings and installing cooling in homes[, but] did not declare a national climate emergency – a step that some Democratic officials and activists have urged after Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin seemingly blocked legislative action and the Supreme Court limited the Environmental Protection Agency’s power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.”

Rule of Law

• Also in Washington DC, “U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan warned Thursday that it would be dangerous if the Supreme Court loses touch with public sentiment or appears to be implementing political preferences.”
  • Meanwhile, in Rome Italy, Justice Alito, “[d]uring a surprise appearance as a keynote speaker at a religious freedom conference in Rome last week, sponsored by the University of Notre Dame,…made clear that he considered religious faith to be a natural yearning of all human beings. ‘Our hearts are restless until we rest in God,’ he said. “Justice Samuel Alito gave a talk [] sponsored by the University of Notre Dame Law School’s Religious Liberty Initiative. The conference that hosted Alito was organized by the Religious Liberty Institute at Notre Dame, which was founded in 2020. While the conference was announced and promoted to journalists in advance, Alito’s role was kept under wraps. The institute or its faculty members have filed amicus briefs in at least five Supreme Court cases on religious freedom issues.”
• In Uvalde TX, “[d]espite having in-house counsel, the city of Uvalde and its police department are working with a private firm to seal records of the horrific shooting at Robb Elementary School, records obtained by VICE show.”

Free & Fair Elections

• In Washington DC, “[l]egal experts [] warned lawmakers on the U.S. House Administration Committee that if the U.S. Supreme Court upholds a North Carolina case that embraces a fringe election theory, it would undermine future elections across the country.”
• In Topeka KS, the state Court of Appeals ruled that “Kansas' top elections official violated the state's open records law when he had office computer software altered so that it could no longer produce data sought by a voting-rights advocate[.]”
• In Atlanta GA, Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ruled that “[t]he prosecutor who’s investigating whether former President Trump and his allies illegally tried to interfere in the 2020 election in Georgia cannot question a lawmaker who signed a certificate falsely stating that Trump won the state[.]”
• In Pennsylvania, “[m]ore than a dozen Pennsylvania Republicans are trying, for a second time, to throw out a mail voting law that many of them helped pass in the first place.”

Human Rights

• In Tampa, “a private school [] is taking on the Biden administration and Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried in federal court, arguing it's being punished because its religious beliefs clash with new federal guidelines extending sex discrimination protections to LGBTQ individuals…An attorney for Grant Park Christian Academy said the school's failure to comply with the feds will force it to forfeit tens of thousands of dollars under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National School Lunch Program, which provides reduced-price or free meals to children from low-income families.”
• In New Haven CT, “a listserv used to organize several recent protests at Yale Law has been shut down. ‘If students want to “debate important questions,” the dean of Yale Law School Heather Gerken announced in an email on Wednesday, they can post on a physical bulletin board in the law school’s hallway.’”
• In Houston TX, “[t]he Justice Department opened an investigation against the city of Houston [] to determine whether complaints of illegal dumping — including dead bodies and animals — in predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods amount to civil rights violations.”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In Washington DC, “Sens. Chuck Schumer, Bob Menendez, Cory Booker, and Elizabeth Warren, along with Reps. Ayanna Pressley, Lauren Underwood, and Tony Crdenas, led 100 of their Democratic colleagues in sending a letter to Biden and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona pushing for an extension of the federal pause on student-loan payments. The pause, currently set to expire after August 31, is just over a month away, and millions of borrowers are still waiting for news on whether it might be extended again, along with Biden's decision on broad student-loan forgiveness.” (open letter available via Sen. Menendez’ office)
• Also in Washington DC, “[f]ederal student loan servicers have been told to hold off on sending out payment reminders to borrowers, according to two sources familiar with the matter.”
• Again also in Washington DC, “[t]the Supreme Court’s June ruling in West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency, which curbed the agency’s authority to set certain climate change regulations, could now add another factor to the Biden administration’s decision-making process.”

Non-Profit & Gov’t Management & Hiring

• In the United States, “public pension funds are on pace for their deepest financial setback since the Great Recession as turmoil in global markets this year threaten to leave taxpayers and government workers on the hook.”
• In Washington DC, “[t]he odds that Congress would increase the average 4.6% pay raise planned for federal employees in 2023 got a little longer Thursday, after Senate appropriators revealed that they would effectively endorse President Biden’s pay increase proposal.”
  • Editor’s Note: According to the Department of Labor’s Inflation Calculator, the inflation rate between June 2021 and June 2022 was 9%. By my math, this means that the spending power of federal wages will decline by 4.4% if this pay raise is approved.
• Also in Washington DC, “[t]he official in charge of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility efforts at the State Department told lawmakers on Tuesday that ‘this time is different,’ while recapping their process and acknowledging the work ahead of them.”
• In Macomb County MI, “[t]he Michigan Supreme Court has sided with Macomb County Prosecutor in a spat [between the prosecutor’s office and the county executive] over four jobs that [Prosecutor] Pete Lucido wants posted.”
• In Canada, “the federal government released its proposed Regulations Amending Certain Regulations Made Under the Canada Labour Code (Medical Leave with Pay) (the "Proposed Regulations"), with respect to paid sick leave for federally regulated employees.”

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In New York NY, “[t]he number of evictions in New York City has increased every month from January to June, according to new city data. The state’s eviction moratorium expired on January 15 after officials extended it several times after it first took effect in March 2020, at the start of the pandemic. The data comes as more bad news for renters, who are facing record-high rents after prices fell early on in the pandemic.”
• Also in New York, “[a] judge overturned a law that allowed the state government to place even healthy citizens in quarantine camps for an indefinite time without review.”
• Again also in New York, “Attorney General Letitia James[] filed a lawsuit against the pharmacy conglomerate [CVS],” alleging they “diverted millions of dollars from underserved communities as part of an anticompetitive scheme involving Medicare 340B drug programs[.]”
• In Palo Alto CA, “Stanford Law School’s Deborah L. Rhode Center on the Legal Profession and Legal Design Lab announced today a collaboration with court systems in six states – Alaska, Colorado, Kansas, Michigan, Texas, and Virginia – to simplify filings in civil cases affecting millions of Americans.”
• In the United States, Truthout surveyed the nationwide “right-to-counsel in evictions” movement.
  • Relatedly, “[t]he North New Jersey Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) launched their right-to-counsel campaign to aid Jersey City tenants at [a] City Hall presser[.]”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In New York, “attorneys assigned to represent defendants who cannot afford to hire their own counsel are getting a raise for the first time in two decades. Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Lisa Headley’s decision and order directed New York state and New York City to pay assigned counsel a rate of $158 per hour, up from $90 per hour. The 75% pay increase is retroactive from February. Assigned counsel last received a pay increase in 2004.”
  • Editor’s Note: According to the Department of Labor’s Inflation Calculator, the inflation rate between June 2004 and June 2022 was 56%. By my math, this means that the spending power of New York defenders’ wages will rise by 19%.
• Also in New York, “[t]he controversial circumstances surrounding the case of New York bodega worker Jose Alba exposes a fundamental flaw in how the New York state criminal legal system operates. In the state system, unless you happen to work for the New York Police Department, prosecutors often charge first and investigate later.”
• In Eaton County MI, “officials say, because of some policy changes at the state level, they are able to help more people who can't afford to hire a lawyer of their own…[after] the American Bar Association took a look at how these cases were being handled and coordinated some changes at the state level to bring the quality of legal care up to the same standard as the prosecutor's offices.”
• In Portland OR, Governor Kate Brown has asked the court to dismiss “[a] lawsuit filed in May [] asking the court to dismiss charges against five individuals who continuously had their case rescheduled because the state of Oregon does not have enough public defenders.”
  • Meanwhile, “[a]ccording to a report filed[] by Oregon's Fiscal Legislative Staff, the state's Office of Public Defense only ‘minimally met’ reporting requirements that lawmakers had laid out for it to receive $100million in taxpayer dollars to address a public defender shortage.”

Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform

• In Baltimore MD, “Marilyn Mosby, a high-profile prosecutor who aligned herself with criminal justice reformers but ended up with legal problems of her own, has lost the Democratic primary for Baltimore state’s attorney to Ivan Bates, a defense attorney…Mosby, who was a two-term incumbent, rose to national prominence in 2015 when she pursued criminal charges against six police officers in the death of Freddie Gray, a Black man who suffered a spinal injury after police handcuffed, shackled and placed him headfirst into a van. His death triggered riots and protests. None of the officers was convicted.”
• In Chapel Hill NC, “[t]he Institute for Innovation in Protection launched a new project named “Protecting Workers: Wage Theft Enforcement for the Local Prosecutor,” designed to help prosecutors take on wage theft prosecutions.”
• In New York NY, “defense attorneys are asking judges to drop gun possession cases following this June’s Supreme Court decision striking down the state’s restrictive gun licensing regulations for violating a newly found Second Amendment right ‘to keep and bear arms in public for self-defense.’”
• Also in New York NY, “[t]he Bronx Defenders and The Bronx Community Foundation, along with U.S. senate majority leader, Sen. Chuck Schumer, State Sen. Gustavo Rivera (S.D. 33), and Bronx Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson, joined Bronx community leaders…to announce the launch of The Bronx Cannabis Hub…The Bronx Cannabis Hub is a new resource designed to give Bronx residents, who advocates say have been harmed by decades of cannabis prohibition, the means to participate in the new, legal cannabis industry.”
• In New York, gubernatorial candidate Rep. Lee Zeldin (Republican) stated that “the governor of the state of New York has the authority and I would argue the obligation to remove a district attorney who refuses to enforce the law. And Alvin Bragg, across the board since the first day he's been there, has refused to do his job. The first act will be notifying Alvin Bragg that he is being removed as a district attorney in Manhattan. We need to start securing our streets from day one, repealing cashless bail.”
  • Relatedly, “Rep. Lee Zeldin has been trying to make his scuffle with an attacker last week part of his case for undoing state bail reform laws…But the Republican nominee for governor is left clarifying some details in the incident’s aftermath. Why didn’t the prosecutor who once served as his gubernatorial campaign co-chair level a bail-eligible charge?” [emphasis added]
• In Cook County IL, “high turnover has left State’s Attorney Kim Foxx with a significant backlog. A former state prosecutor says it's her own fault.”
• In Maricopa County AZ, “[t]he office has dozens of unfilled prosecutor jobs, which has slowed the pursuit of justice and frustrated police.”
• In Hennepin County MN, district attorney candidate Martha Holton Dimick argued that “our more lenient approach to prosecution is good as long as we fulfill our core responsibilities as prosecutors and law enforcement. Over the last two years, we have not. Car thieves know they will be released on the same day without bail; juvenile carjackers have nowhere to be placed for short-term detention or treatment, and dozens of homicides in Minneapolis from 2021 remain unsolved. And our leaders stood on a stage and told the world that we would end policing in Minneapolis. Since the murder of George Floyd, many criminals have heard the message that we don't care about their actions, and they have acted accordingly. My first priority right now is to restore the effectiveness of the office by emphasizing our core responsibility: swift, effective and fair prosecution.”
• In Tennessee, “[n]ewly proposed rules covering juvenile detention centers in Tennessee are supposed to ban solitary confinement. But critics say they were written with the exclusive help of juvenile detention operators and would allow facilities to continue locking children in solitary confinement.”
• In Pennsylvania, “[a] former public defender turned Philadelphia County judge has been nominated by President Joe Biden to serve on the federal bench in Pennsylvania.”

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello, interested public!

Interesting times. Major stories centered around criminal justice this week. The ongoing effort to recall, impeach, or force the resignation of reformist prosecutors continues across the US (stories in California, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania this week), while Democrats, led by the President, join Republicans in bipartisan concern for “law & order” issues. Meanwhile, multiple states report caseload crises for public defenders–and the ACLU won class certification in Maine for a lawsuit alleging officials failed to create an effective public defender system.” The Biden administration promises a decision on student loan forgiveness will be forthcoming, and polls indicate public confidence in the Supreme Court has fallen precipitously since its decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. All this and more are in the stories below.

Take care of one another,

Sam

Reproductive Justice

• In Washington DC, “[t]he Veterans Affairs Department is ‘closely watching’ how access to abortions shakes out after the fall of Roe v. Wade, suggesting on Wednesday it could unilaterally decide to offer the service if its availability drops precipitously for veterans across the country.”
• In the United States, “pro-choice groups and abortion providers have seen a surge in membership, volunteers, and donations in recent weeks as advocates seek to protect and shore up abortion access.”

Rule of Law

• In Johnson County KS, “[t]he Johnson County Sheriff is now accusing the county attorney of breaking the law and providing a public document to reporters. The letter provided under the Kansas Open Records Act, or KORA, revealed the county attorney had concerns about the sheriff’s request to play a greater role in the upcoming election.”
• In Washington DC, public revelation of a memo in which “the [current] attorney general extended his predecessor’s requirement that investigations into presidential or vice-presidential candidates, as well as their senior staff and advisors, can’t begin without written notification to the department and his written approval [has sparked] debate since then as to whether [this deference] was justified.”
• In Milwaukee WI, “a new poll released [by Marquette Law School shows] just 38% of the country saying it approves of the nation’s highest court after it overturned Roe v. Wade–a dramatic shift in public opinion from one year ago.”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In Washington DC, “President Biden confirmed he will decide wide-scale student loan cancellation by August.”
• Also in Washington DC, “[a] pair of New Jersey lawmakers have introduced a new bill that would make it easier for some previously ineligible public workers to qualify for loan relief under a federal program. This is the latest attempt to make changes to the 15-year-old program as Americans await a decision on widespread student loan forgiveness by the Biden administration.”
• Again also in Washington DC, “[c]ongressional Republicans slammed President Biden‘s consideration of student loan forgiveness as a “giveaway” to highly educated Americans that ignores the underlying costs of college and inflation pressures for struggling Americans.”
• Latino USA noted that “[t]he call for abolition of all student debt has never been louder,” and “div[ed] into the history of the student loan system in the U.S., as well as the stories of Black and Latino organizers that have been at the forefront of the movement for student debt cancellation.”

Non-Profit & Gov’t Management & Hiring

• In Washington DC, “Equal Justice Works, which helps law students and graduates pursue careers in public interest law, has chosen University of Cincinnati law Dean Verna Williams to replace outgoing executive director David Stern in September and to assume the new title of chief executive officer[.]”
• Also in Washington DC, “[o]fficials from the Biden administration on Thursday defended federal agencies’ approach to workplace flexibilities like telework and remote work from skeptical Republicans, who have grown more stridently against the concept of hybrid work environments in recent months.”
• In the United States, “Americans head into the 2022 midterm election season with record-setting doubts about the federal government’s faithful execution of the laws. Public demand for comprehensive government reform is at a 20-year high, while confidence in government has dropped to a historic low.”
• In California, “state employee unions representing scientists and attorneys are making the biggest demands for raises in contract negotiations this year. The attorneys want 30%.”
• In Nashville TN, “Vanderbilt Law School’s Social Justice Reporter, a new student-edited legal journal, will publish this fall and focus on social justice, civil rights and public interest lawyering by leading researchers, practitioners, policymakers and law students.”
• In New York NY, “[c]laiming that a vote in support for the Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel by faculty at the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law “makes clear that Israeli students and faculty members are not welcome to work with, attend or work for” the school, a complaint has been filed with the city and state.”

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In California, “[a] group of tenant advocates and attorneys today launched a tool they hope will change [outcomes in eviction proceedings.] More than 50 tenant advocates and attorneys from The Debt Collective, The LA Tenants Union, The Anti-Eviction Mapping Project, UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality & Democracy and the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment worked on the “Tenant Power Toolkit” over the last two years — a mostly volunteer effort, explains Hannah Appel, an anthropology professor at UCLA who came up with the idea based on her work as a co-founder of the Debt Collective.”
• In Dallas County TX, “when lawyers from the [] Dallas Eviction Advocacy Center show up, [tenants] win 97% of the time. The pro bono team possesses no superpowers, but it’s [sic] susses out what juices the eviction process. The landlords’ longtime gamble — knowing that fewer than 3% of tenants show up with legal representation — is that the odds are in their favor to cut corners, fudge facts and pull off unlawful maneuvers.”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Maine, “Superior Court Justice Michaela Murphy granted the ACLU of Maine’s request for class certification [in] a lawsuit filed against Maine officials that alleges they failed to create an effective public defense system.”
• In New Hampshire, “[t]he state Supreme Court, New Hampshire Judicial Council, and New Hampshire Public Defender program say it’s critical the state increase the hourly rates and caps on payments and make permanent the temporary pay raises public defenders received.”
• In Wisconsin, “thousands of men and women across Wisconsin [wait months for representation] due to overworked and understaffed public defenders [in a] growing caseload crisis.”
• In Boundary County ID, “[p]ublic officials from both Bonner and Boundary counties met to discuss the first draft of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for a potential joint public defenders office for the two counties.”
• In Helena MT, “[t]he Montana Supreme Court has vacated a District Court contempt order against the Office of State Public Defender and ruled that OPD met the standards of Montana law when assigning public defenders. In September, Billings Judge Donald Harris held OPD Director Rhonda Lindquist and her office in contempt after learning more than 600 defendants were without assigned legal representation in Yellowstone County.”
• In Santa Cruz CA, “New Santa Cruz County Public Defender Heather Rogers is aiming to offer a legal experience to the county’s least wealthy that allows them to experience the same “boutique” legal experience as those with ample financial means.”
• In New Orleans LA, “[a]fter almost 14 years of defending the poor in the state’s busiest courthouse…the city’s chief public defender, Derwyn Bunton, is stepping down.”

Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform

• In San Francisco CA, “[j]ust two weeks after replacing San Francisco’s progressive district attorney Chesa Boudin, DA Brooke Jenkins is taking heat for a mass firing which many attorneys say is throwing the office into chaos.”
  • Meanwhile, “[a]mid a hiring and firing spree, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins announced the appointment of several key leaders on Tuesday, including a new head of the bureau that investigates police shootings…replac[ing] Lateef Gray, who was fired by Jenkins. Gray was a longtime public defender and civil rights attorney known for suing police before [recalled DA] Boudin appointed him to the position.”
  • The San Francisco Chronicle evaluated DA Jenkins’ approach to her new role: “[a] week into her new job, Jenkins’ public engagements, political stance, and early personnel decisions offer a glimpse of that vision and the kind of district attorney she envisions being: Someone a loan to bring back cash bail, charge minors as adults, revoke plea deals that could prevent immigrants from being deported, and support the expansion of police surveillance, all to ensure that the San Franciscans feel sure. Jenkins likes to say she’s progressive, but is she?”
• In Los Angeles CA, Politico examined the effort to recall District Attorney Gascón: “Gascón moved quickly after he was sworn in. He ended cash bail for misdemeanors and non-violent felonies. He told his deputy district attorneys not to seek the death penalty anymore, to never try juveniles as adults, to stop prosecuting people for first-time non-violent misdemeanors, and to stop using so-called sentencing enhancements, which allow prosecutors to pile on jail time. And he did all of that on his first day in office. Then came the backlash.”
  • In Los Angeles CA, the “District Attorney is terminating a unit that notifies crime victims and their families when their assailant is up for parole hearings. This decision comes after the Los Angeles County clerk stated that it will need to fully verify signatures for the district attorney’s recall.”
• In Harrisburg PA, “Republicans and Democrats in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives announced a new committee this week devoted to examining rising crime rates in Philadelphia, hinting toward the recommended impeachment of District Attorney Larry Krasner (D-PA).”
• In Passaic County NJ, “[County P]rosecutor Camelia M. Valdes has run afoul of rank-and-file police officers, who are calling for her resignation after a new policy that requires cops to notify their departments anytime they’re involved in a motor vehicle accident in the county that causes injuries.”
• In Columbus OH, “[o]ne of the special prosecutors who had pursued criminal charges against three members of the Columbus Division of Police for their conduct in the 2020 racial justice protests has resigned, according to the Columbus City Attorney’s Office.”
• In New York, “the day that the Supreme Court struck down New York state’s strict gun control laws, a coalition of public defender organizations released a joint statement calling on the Legislature to craft new gun laws that would avoid the mistakes of the old…The Legislature and Gov. Kathy Hochul did respond with sweeping new gun control legislation that was signed into law. However, it wasn’t what some public defenders and others were hoping for, prompting private complaints that the new laws did not respond to old concerns and would fuel mass incarceration.”
• In Spokane County WA, “County Prosecutor Larry Haskell…is facing three challengers, including current and former employees who object to his leadership.”
• In Washington DC, “[p]resident Joe Biden plans to propose a steep funding increase for police, hoping to show that Democrats are serious about combating violent crime, despite the move potentially causing backlash from top members of his party’s left flank. But a scheduled trip to Pennsylvania to ask Congress to spend roughly $37 billion for fighting and preventing crime was canceled Thursday when Biden tested positive for COVID-19.”
  

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello, interested public!

Best wishes as we all arrive at the end of another week. The last seven days have seen more bombshell news related to reproductive justice, as well as multiple high-profile stories regarding government employee dissatisfaction at the federal, local, and state levels (in DC, NYC, and CA, respectively). Meanwhile, Congressional staffers took a public (but anonymous) stance against their own bosses. All this and (much) more in the links below.

Take care of one another,

Sam

Editor’s Choice

• In Washington DC, “[i]n a rare move, more than 200 congressional staffers have sent a letter to Democratic leadership in the House and Senate, demanding they close the deal on a climate and clean energy package and warning that failure could doom younger generations. ‘We’ve crafted the legislation necessary to avert climate catastrophe. It’s time for you to pass it,’ the staffers wrote in a letter, sent to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday evening. …’Our country is nearing the end of a two-year window that represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to pass transformative climate policy[. …]The silence on expansive climate justice policy on Capitol Hill this year has been deafening. We write to distance ourselves from your dangerous inaction.’”
  

• Unrelatedly, but also in Washington DC, Reuters profiled the Weil Legal Innovators Program, “an unusual fellowship that targets students before they enter law school. Since the program launched in 2019, the firm has paid for an average of 10 ‘Zero L’ students to delay law school [for a year] in order to work at select public service organizations–not as lawyers of course, but to take on substantive projects nonetheless.”

Reproductive Justice

• In New Orleans LA, “leaders are attempting to position the city as a potential haven for abortion access through City Council resolutions and pledges of not enforcing the law[.]”
• In Indiana, the state’s “Attorney General said…that his office planned to investigate the Indiana doctor who helped a 10-year-old rape victim who crossed state lines to have an abortion.”
• In Washington DC, “President Joe Biden’s spokesperson…condemned Texas Republican lawmakers’ threat to penalize Sidley Austin and other Texas law firms that have pledged to pay for out-of-state abortions.”
• Also Washington DC, “[t]he Biden administration released updated guidance on Monday, reminding doctors around the country that they’re protected by federal law if they terminate a patient’s pregnancy as part of treatment in an emergency circumstance — and threatening to fine or strip the Medicare status from hospitals that fail to do so.”
• Again also in Washington DC, “guidance[] issued by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights…to clarify and enforce anti-discrimination provisions in the Affordable Care Act [dictated that p]harmacists cannot deny people prescribed medication–including hormonal birth control or emergency contraception–because those people are pregnant or might become pregnant.”
• In Michigan, “[a] proposed constitutional amendment there would override a 90-year-old state law that makes abortion a felony, even in the case of rape or incest….[O]rganizers [have] submitted more than 750,000 signatures…to state election officials in hopes of having the amendment appear on the November ballot. If just over half of those signatures are validated, Michigan voters will decide whether to amend the state’s constitution to guarantee broad, individual rights to ‘reproductive freedom,’ including abortion, contraception and fertilty [sic] treatments.”

Rule of Law

• In California, “Gov. Gavin Newsom [] signed legislation into law that would allow lawsuits against gun makers and distributors after gun violence. The genesis for the bill, AB 1594, was a decision by the Supreme Court not to block a Texas law allowing private citizens to sue people who provide or assist in abortions.”
• Also in California, “[t]he UCLA School of Law is launching the “Safeguarding Democracy Project”, led by elections expert Rick Hasen. It is aimed at promoting free and fair elections in the U.S.”

Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Issues

• In Texas, “[s]everal Border Patrol agents acted inappropriately and could face discipline following their harsh tactics as a group of mostly Haitian migrants crossed into the United States last year, though an internal investigation released Friday cleared the employees of physically striking any of the individuals.”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In Washington DC, “[t]he Biden administration…unveiled a proposed regulation to no longer capitalize interest in certain situations, including when borrowers enter repayment or default on their loans.”
• Also in Washington DC, “California Gov. Gavin Newsom–who some observers suspect will make a run for the presidency in the near future–has distanced himself from progressive activists on…student debt relief. During a speech,…Newsom said he’s not for ‘waiving all debt.’…prefacing that comment by noting that it might ‘offend’ some people in his party.”
• In Connecticut, “[e]ducation officials announced [] that a new state-funded $7 million loan subsidy program is aimed at helping teachers refinance their loans.”

Non-Profit & Gov’t Management & Hiring

• In Washington DC, “[a] bipartisan group of senators is looking to set new limitations on the entities with which federal agencies can contract, introducing legislation to ban the government from doing business with companies that work with certain other nations.”
• Also in Washington DC, “[a] good government group on Wednesday released its annual analysis of the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, finding that across government, employee engagement and satisfaction fell 4.5 points from 2020 to 2021.”
  • Meanwhile, in New York NY, “the largest municipal employer in the country[] is facing an exodus of city workers that has led to a surge in job vacancies and difficulties delivering basic municipal services[.]”
  • Meanwhile, in California, “state employee unions representing scientists and attorneys are making the biggest demands for raises in contract negotiations this year. The attorneys want 30%[; t]he proposed increases would be among the largest in the history of organized labor in California state government.”
• In Boston MA, “[a]n appeals court ruling [] that said Whole Foods and its parent Amazon.com Inc can’t be sued for disciplining workers who wore “Black Lives Matter” face masks…further restrict[ed] employees’ ability to change their working conditions at a time when U.S. workplaces have become a locus of divisive cultural battles and disagreements over some Americans’ basic rights.”
• In the United States, “[w]hile the number of private-sector jobs surpassed its pre-pandemic level, there are 664,000 fewer people employed in the public secor, according to the government jobs report released [last week].”

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In Washington DC, “[e]motion fueled a debate on the Senate floor [] as Republicans objected to taking up a Democratic bill that would guarantee a woman’s constitutional right to travel across state lines to receive abortion care.”
• In Miami-Dade County FL, “Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said that she will request that county commissioners budget funding for legal representation for [] tenants [facing eviction] in the next fiscal year.”
• In Chicago, the Legal Services Corporation held a Forum on Increasing Access to Justice (recording publicly available on their Facebook page).
• In the United States, “[m]ore than 100 legal technology companies have formed in the last 10 years to provide legal assistance to millions of Americans who can’t afford an attorney, helping to bridge a gap in access to justice, while less than a handful of states have taken action to expand the practice of law[, a]ccording to the Legal Services Corporation’s 2022 Justice Gap Study[.]”
• In Arizona, “Governor Doug Ducey signed [a] law this week making it illegal in Arizona for a person to videotape police officers, without the officer’s permission, if within 2.5 meters of the officer.”
• In Washington DC, “American University has cleared a law student of harassment charges for expressing pro-choice views in a private chat group…‘I’m glad that the school has cleared me, but this investigation should never have happened in the first place,’ [the student] said.”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Massachusetts, Senator Ed Markey’s office released a letter from Amazon indicating that the company “has provided video footage from its Ring doorbell cameras to police without users’ consent 11 times this year[.]”
• In Oregon, “[a]s cases continue to drop and hundreds remain without counsel, the head of the Oregon Supreme Court is now calling for solutions to address the state’s ongoing public defender crisis.”
• In Santa Cruz CA, “[the c]ounty’s new Public Defender office began operations on July 1, and the department’s roughly 60 employees celebrated the occasion with a barbecue in the backyard of its May Street headquarters.”

Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform

• In Massachusetts, President Joe Biden nominated “Ayer District Court Justice Margaret R. Guzman to the federal bench…Guzman is a long-time former public defender who served a stint in private practice before becoming a judge.”
• In Oregon, President Biden named Oregon Supreme Court Justice Adrienne Nelson as one of four new federal judicial nominees; the first Black judge on the state’s high court could soon become the first Black female federal judge in Oregon. (Not a direct quotation from the article, but a reworked paraphrase of its lede.)
• In Alabama, “[t]he Southern Poverty Law Center, in conjunction with the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama and the Glasscox Law Firm, warned Alabama Governor Kay Ivey…that a recent transfer of a judgeship from Jefferson County to Madison County violated the state constitution…The move comes directly after Democratic candidate Tiara Young Hudson, a public defender who previously served as a circuit court judge, won the nomination during the May primaries.”
• In Las Vegas, “[a ]police union is calling on a judge to resign for warning a defendant not to be around police officers because he might not survive–a piece of advice she said she follows herself.”
• In New York, “[p]ublic defenders, The Legal Aid Society, released a statement…in response to an announcement by New York State Court of Appeals chief judge, Janet DiFiore, that she will resign next month after seven years in the role. The public defenders are calling for a progressive-leaning judge to be appointed to the bench.”
  

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello, interested public!

It’s been awhile. I’ll level with you about why. This digest has always taken a substantial amount of time and effort to produce–and over the last year other responsibilities of mine have taken significantly more time and effort than they used to, as we’ve all had to adapt to drastic social changes. Additionally, public interest news continues to be densely-packed difficult to absorb and synthesize. Today, for example, I delayed this newsletter in order to get the text of President Biden’s Executive Order regarding abortion rights.

But I realize that the digest also gives us a jumping-off point for shared conversations as a community. So as we begin another academic year I am going to work to bring it back as a regular feature. Even if I get it out a bit late, and you end up reading it on Monday morning rather than Friday afternoon.

Take care of one another,

Sam

Editor’s Choice

• In Washington DC, “[a]mid mounting pressure to take action in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, President Joe Biden signed an executive order Friday aimed at protecting access to abortions.” Among other mitigation efforts, “[t]he White House counsel and attorney general will…bring together a group of private attorneys to work on a pro bono basis for people providing or seeking an abortion who face legal battles.”

  The relevant portion of the executive order reads:

  “To promote access to reproductive healthcare services, the Attorney General and the Counsel to the President shall convene a meeting of private pro bono attorneys, bar associations, and public interest organizations in order to encourage lawyers to represent and assist patients, providers, and third parties lawfully seeking these services throughout the country.”

• Meanwhile, in Kentucky, rather than working to help people navigate new restrictions, “[a]ttorneys from around the state and outside of the commonwealth are working together to provide pro bono services to providers in case they do face criminal charges for operating a procedure which had been federally protected for nearly 50 years before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last week.”

Rule of Law

• In Washington DC, “a prominent Capitol Hill religious leader was caught on a hot mic making a bombshell claim: that she prays with sitting justices inside the high court. ‘We’re the only people who do that,’ Peggy Nienaber said. This disclosure was a serious matter on its own terms, but it also suggested a major conflict of interest. Nienaber’s ministry’s umbrella organization, Liberty Counsel, frequently brings lawsuits before the Supreme Court.”
• Also in Washington DC, “[t]he US Supreme Court since August has issued more emergency orders than opinions in cases that got fully briefed and argued despite several justices expressing misgivings about the practice. The most conservative justices signaled they wanted to use what’s known as the shadow docket even more aggressively.”
• In Pennsylvania, “[a] legal advocacy group formed in hopes of disbarring and disciplining lawyers who aided Donald Trump’s push to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election filed complaints…with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court against seven lawyers in the state for their involvement in the former president’s legal efforts.”

Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Issues

• In Texas, “[t]he Department of Justice is investigating alleged civil rights violations under Operation Lone Star, a multibillion-dollar border initiative announced last year by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, according to state records obtained by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune.”
• Also in Texas, “Governor Greg Abbott…issued an executive order authorizing and empowering the Texas National Guard and the Texas Department of Public Safety to apprehend illegal immigrants who illegally cross the border between ports of entry and return them to the border.” The New York Times noted that the order “calls for state authorities to take on an immigration role that is typically the purview of the federal government.”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In Washington DC, the Department of Education “unveiled a package of proposed regulations aimed at improving the process of applying for a range of programs to forgive debt from educational loans, including the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program[.]” (More coverage available from Inside HigherEd.)
  • Meanwhile, a recent survey by intelligent.com suggested that “Biden’s student loan pledge encouraged 86% of recent borrowers to take on debt[.]”
• In the United States, “[a] narrow majority of Americans, 55%, said they support forgiving up to $10,000 in federal student loan debt, according to a recent poll from NPR/Ipsos.”
• The Center for Responsible Lending released a report: “Stories of the Impact of COVID-19 on Women’s Finances and Their Capacity to Repay Student Loans”.
• A new Bankrate survey found that “[r]oughly 60 percent of U.S. adults who have held student loan debt have put off making important financial decisions due to that debt, according to a new Bankrate survey. For Gen Z and millennial borrowers alone, that number rises to 70 percent. Student loans have prevented these borrowers from saving for retirement or emergencies, buying a home, or paying off other debt, like credit cards.”

Non-Profit & Gov’t Management & Hiring

• In the United States, “[t]ens of thousands of federal employees could soon receive payments for damages suffered during the 2018 shutdown after a court heard arguments on Wednesday that the government violated federal law when it failed to deliver paychecks on time to its workers.”
• In Washington DC, “Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) introduced a bill yesterday to provide the District of Columbia Courts and the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia with the same authority that federal courts and federal agencies have to offer voluntary separation incentive payments, or buyouts, to their employees.”
• Also in Washington DC, “George Washington University rejected calls to remove Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas from its law school faculty by students and others frustrated over the judge’s vote to overturn Roe v. Wade and his urging to reconsider other landmark civil rights cases.”
• In Montgomery AL, “[a]fter more than a year and a half of negotiations, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has reached a tentative collective bargaining agreement with the SPLC staff.”
• The Brookings Institute released a report finding that “[n]onprofit organizations are indispensable partners for the public sector to maximize federal dollars and leverage funds for inclusive, systemic change. Yet, to make the most of today’s historic investment opportunities, cities and nonprofits must overcome two preexisting conditions that could hinder such an approach: functionality and equity.”

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In Mississippi, “[a] judge has denied a motion from Mississippi’s only abortion clinic to allow it to remain open by blocking a law that would ban most abortions in the state. The Jackson Women’s Health Organization had sought a temporary restraining order that would allow it to remain open, at least while the lawsuit remains in court.”
• In the United States, the US Postal Service announced it “will not proactively help states enforce laws prohibiting the use of abortion pills in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, despite many legislatures vowing to crack down on the practice.”
• In Canada, “[t]he federal government says it is examining whether there is a legal risk to health-care workers who provide abortions in this country for visiting Americans.”
• In New York, “[a]n amendment to the New York State Human Rights Law is set to go into effect on July 14, 2022. The new law directs the New York State Division of Human Rights (Division) to operate a toll-free confidential hotline, during regular business hours, which will provide counsel and assistance to individuals with complaints of workplace sexual harassment.”
• In Oklahoma City OK, “[e]victions in Oklahoma City are rising as rent help is running out[.]”
• In Wisconsin, “voters will no longer be allowed to cast their absentee ballots via remote drop boxes, as the state’s highest judicial body ruled Friday they are not permitted under state law.”
• In New Mexico, “[a] lawyer overseeing a slew of damage claims from the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon fire said the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s aid process needs an overhaul.”
• In Illinois, “Governor J.B. Pritzker has signed into law the “Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair” Act, or CROWN Act, which prohibits hair discrimination.”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In the United States, “[m]ost judges and lawyers seem to agree that they expect courts to continue to leverage remote technology in some capacity after the pandemic subsides. When it comes to criminal proceedings, however, that consensus starts to shatter.”
• In Oregon, “[t]he patience of Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice Martha Walters seems to be growing thin as the state continues to violate the constitutional rights of criminal defendants charged with crimes who cannot afford an attorney. ‘Hundreds who are constitutionally entitled to counsel are being denied that right, and no end is in sight,’ Walters wrote in a letter sent July 1 to the eight commissioners who oversee the state’s public defense agency.”
• Also in Oregon, “Oregon’s federal public defender says dozens of people inside the state’s only federal prison have been on a hunger strike protesting conditions inside the facility.”
• In Santa Cruz County CA, “residents criminally charged and in need of a lawyer can now seek public defense services, as the county opened its first Public Defender’s Office[.]”
• In Branch County MI, “[t]wo new full-time positions in the Public Defenders Office which are being funded by the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission were brought forward by the Branch County Board of Commissioners[.]”
• In Baton Rouge LA, “the NAACP Baton Rouge chapter published a four-page letter speaking against East Baton Rouge Parish Chief Public Defender Lisa Parker…NAACP alleges that 30 employees have left the office since Parker was appointed in July 2021.” In response, “Parker’s spokesperson confirms that 17 attorneys have resigned since Parker took over. A statement from Parker’s office said those attorney positions have since been filled and since Parker took over no cases have been dropped, overlooked or neglected.”
• In Georgia, “Sen. Jon Ossoff is launching a new effort to strengthen public defender programs in state and local courts.”
• In the United States, “[s]hortly after the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Shinn v. Ramirez, the ABA Death Penalty Representation Project put out a call for more pro bono attorneys to help represent people on death row.”

Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform

• In San Francisco CA, “San Francisco’s Mayor London Breed has made a controversial pick to replace former progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin, after a recall which garnered major national attention — prosecutor and critic Brooke Jenkins…those who opposed the recall of Boudin say this pick reflects a turn from progressive criminal justice policies for San Francisco. Jenkins, a Black Latina, described herself as a “progressive prosecutor” but criticized Boudin for his policies in the interest of criminal justice reform….Recall opponents like former police commissioner John Hamasaki called this ‘an unfortunate pick for San Francisco.’[:] ‘Ms. Jenkins is somebody who has consistently demonstrated poor judgment, a lack of ethics and a desire to return to unfortunately racist and tough on crime policies,’ he said in a phone interview. He said Jenkins was not Breed’s first pick but is supported by the police union and some backers of the recall.”
• In Los Angeles County CA, the “district attorney may face a vote in November — two years before his term ends — as the campaign to recall him said it submitted enough signatures to qualify for the ballot.”
• In Maricopa County AZ, “a prosecutor involved in charging 2020 protesters with gang charges, will appeal a June 28 decision by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office to officially fire her[.]”