Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello, interested public! Hope you’re all hanging in there. The major news this week has been anticipated for quite some time, but now that it’s here it will likely take a while for us all to unpack. (I speak, of course, of the Biden Administration’s new student loan forgiveness and reform policies.) In other major news, many states continue to see a shortage of criminal defenders–and some states have allocated or are considering allocating millions of dollars in funding to attempt to do something about their crises. In Canada, British Columbia is weighing whether to allow a class action lawsuit to proceed which would challenge the province’s approach to legal aid for single mothers and Montreal is piloting a new legal services model that relies on law students.

Take care of one another,

Sam

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In Washington DC, “President Joe Biden announced the cancellation of up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt for borrowers making less than $125,000 a year or $250,000 for married couples. The plan is expected to help many of the over 40 million Americans with student loans and completely wipe out the balances of as many as 15 million borrowers. Among the over 40 million receiving relief, Pell Grant recipients, public servants, millennials, Black borrowers, and even future students could stand to benefit most from the administration's announcement and accompanying proposals.”
  • Relatedly, “[t]he White House caused a stir on Twitter Thursday afternoon by calling out several Republican lawmakers who criticized President Joe Biden's move to forgive up to $20,000 in student loan debt for many borrowers, pointing out that some of the critics’ businesses had more than $1 million in federal loans forgiven as part of the pandemic-era Paycheck Protection Program.”
  • Yahoo observed that “perhaps even more significant is the Biden administration’s proposal to restructure how loans are repaid, giving future borrowers a lot more leeway when it comes to paying back debt.”
  • In the Atlantic, Professor Joseph Stiglitz argued that “[w]hatever your view of student-debt cancellation, the inflation argument is a red herring and should not influence policy. Taking that logic to the extreme, canceling food stamps would dofar more to reduce inflation–but that would be cruel and inhumane, and fortunately no one has suggested doing so. A closer look at the student-debt-cancellation program suggests that the new student-loan policy may even reduce inflation; at most, its inflationary impact will be minuscule, and the long-term benefits to the economy are likely to be significant.”
  • Slate observed that “[i]t’s easy to imagine the Supreme Court ruling that the secretary [of Education] must identify a more specific class of borrowers whose ability to pay off loans was demonstrably harmed by the pandemic. If the court chooses this route, though, there’s a straightforward fix: Biden can simply announce that any borrower affected by the pandemic can apply for relief; if they can prove hardship, their debts get canceled. The Heroes Act, of course, says such “case-by-case” adjudication is unnecessary. And this method would increase administrative burdens while shrinking the pool of beneficiaries, since some eligible borrowers will fail to apply.”
  • The American Prospect argued that “the way for the Biden administration to…manage the transition [back to student loan payments] with the least amount of harm…lies in one of the other announcements the administration made on Wednesday[:] …The next step is to auto-enroll everyone in IDR. If this were the only path for borrowers to pay back federal loans, it would make the cost of those loans somewhat irrelevant. For most people who borrow more than $12,000, they would make this 5 or 10 percent payment relative to their annual income for 20 years and be done.”

Reproductive Rights

• In Boise ID, “Idaho's near-total abortion ban appears to have a serious conflict with a federal law governing emergency health care treatment, a federal judge,” ruling “the potential conflict is because Idaho's law doesn't appear to account for cases when a pregnant person might face serious medical consequences if the pregnancy is continued.”

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In Springfield MO, “[a] nonprofit organization that helps provide people with housing has sued the state over a new law that upends current approaches to addressing homelessness in Missouri…The legislation prioritizes providing shortterm shelter for homeless people, reversing a popular ‘housing-first’ strategy to get people into permanent homes.”
• In British Columbia, “[a] group representing single mothers is waiting for a B.C. Supreme Court judge to decide if they can sue the province for better access to legal aid. The Single Mothers' Alliance (SMA) filed a court application in February alleging an agreement between the province and the Legal Service Society (now Legal Aid BC) impedes access to justice in family law proceedings.”
• In Montreal QC, “[s]tudents from the École du Barreau will offer free legal advice as part of a pilot project in Montreal, announced the President of Quebec and the Minister of Justice.”
• In Charlottesville VA, “[s]ince pandemic rent protections expired, the Charlottesville Legal Aid Justice Center says it has seen a significant increase in eviction lawsuit filings.”
• In Washington DC, “an eviction prevention hotline and the attorneys who staff it stopped 70% of evictions sought by landlords from September 2021 to March 2022.”
• In Kansas, “[t]he Kansas Supreme Court appointed three new members and reappointed four existing ones to the Access to Justice Committee.”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Wisconsin, “[a] group of inmates, some whom have been waiting weeks or months to be assigned attorneys, filed a lawsuit against Gov. Tony Evers and members of the state public defender board. Legal action groups, including the National and Wisconsin Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, are representing a handful of the plaintiffs.”
• In Maine, “[t]he Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services voted to recommend a $62.1 million budget next year. The proposal would open four public defender offices in the state and raise the hourly fee from $80 to $150 for court-appointed lawyers…The American Civil Liberties Union of Maine is suing the state, contending there’s a failure to train, supervise and adequately fund a system to ensure the constitutional right to effective counsel.”
  • Relatedly, the Editorial Board of the Bangor Daily News weighed in on the state’s indigent defense crisis (covered in prior editions of this digest): “the current system is clearly inadequate, harming defendants and taxpayers. So state lawmakers, the commission and advocates need to look for innovative solutions – not all of which require more money – with a heightened sense of urgency. Maine is the only state that has not had some version of a public defender system, where lawyers are state employees.”
• In Quebec, “[t]he Barreau du Québec has announced that a first agreement was reached with the Minister of Justice, Simon Jolin-Barrette, to increase the fees of lawyers in private practice who accept legal aid mandates.”
• In Rochester NY, “[s]taff attorneys in the Monroe County Public Defender’s office have announced plans to form a union. The union drive comes amid ongoing questions over who will lead the office.”
• In Kentucky, “public defenders [are] looking ahead after years of low pay [and] high caseloads [after t]he budget passed in the 2022 session of the Kentucky General Assembly used a historic surplus to make investments in state government, including more than $7 million to boost the Department of Public Advocacy’s budget. [Kentucky Public Advocate Damon] Preston said the $7 million is a helpful starting point to stop the hemorrhaging of attorneys, but he hopes more state dollars will come in the future to expand DPA services and hire additional lawyers. But, for now, the pay boost is life changing to public defenders[.]”
• In Raleigh County WV, “[t]he Public Defender’s Office is starting to transition from traditional defense strategies to more concentration on holistic defense. With the new program, the office will no longer focus solely on legal issues. They will now focus on housing, jobs, parenting issues, and more. This shift is aimed at helping them get out into the community to offer services for the personal issues that effected their clients’ court issues.”
• In New Hampshire, “[a]mid a statewide shortage of criminal defense lawyers to represent those who can’t afford an attorney, changes to the New Hampshire court system could provide some short-term relief. Among those changes, a recent order by the New Hampshire Supreme Court opens a new avenue for private attorneys to take on these cases, lessening the caseload falling to already-strained public defenders.”
• In El Paso TX, “[after] a judge dismissed about 370 criminal cases in El Paso because of prosecutorial delays[, t]he El Paso Public Defender’s Office, which sought the dismissals, says this is just the beginning: It has more than 1,000 additional cases eligible to be dismissed and plans to file new motions soon.”

Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform

• In New York, “[t]he New York State Bar Association launched a task force [] to suggest new laws and policies to improve the criminal justice system and tackle a variety of issues that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
• In San Francisco, the city’s elected Public Defender criticized recently-appointed District Attorney Jenkins’ new bail policies in an op-ed: “I urge District Attorney Jenkins to reconsider her policy on expanding use of money bail to incarcerate indigent community members. Nationally and throughout California, we are moving away from punishing people for being poor and toward ending the use of money bail. Let’s not regress on the progress we have made as a city and county that values equality and fairness.”

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello, interested public!

Hope you’re all hanging in there. High drama in the news this week for public defenders in both the United States (where the chief public defender of Minnesota is facing a vote of no confidence from union public defenders and the Chief Justice of Oregon fired the entire Public Defense Services Commission) and Canada (where criminal defense attorneys in Alberta further escalated their ongoing job action). Major reports concerning non-profit funding and government remote workplace efficiency came out, legal aid services in Indiana reported a staffing crisis, and the Florida prosecutor recently replaced by Gov. DeSantis for his stated position on abortion-related prosecutions is suing in response to his removal.

Take care of one another,

Sam

Editor’s Choices

• In Illinois, “[d]ata broker LexisNexis Risk Solutions allegedly violated Illinois law by collecting and combining extensive personal information and selling it to third parties including federal immigration authorities, according to a lawsuit filed [] by immigration advocates.”
  • Relatedly, “[a]n independent, two-year investigation has now revealed that ICE collected data on hundreds of millions of Americans under a legally — and ethically — questionable surveillance system largely outside of public oversight…ICE has carried out this surveillance by turning to third parties like state Departments of Motor Vehicles, large utility companies, and private data brokers like LexisNexis Risk Solutions.”
  • Moreover, “Congressional leadership is asking federal law enforcement agencies for detailed information on how they purchase Americans’ personal data through various mediums and broker services, to determine the legal legitimacy of government data collection.”
• In the United States, “a chorus of public health experts [are] voicing concerns over the federal response to monkeypox in prisons and jails…Experts say that is also likely to be the case behind bars, where thousands are crowded into tight facilities and sex is often traded for safety, and in many cases prisoners in laundry facilities must wash each other’s bedding and clothing. But the Biden administration has no plans to administer or require vaccines to prevent the spread of monkeypox behind bars, officials confirmed[.]”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In the United States, “[a] survey of consumers with federal student loans on pause…reveals that only 14% of respondents say they can afford the payments with no issues when the forbearance period ends, according to a consumer survey by ScoreSense®, a credit score monitoring product.”
• Also in the United States, “[t]he nation’s 40 million student loan borrowers are still waiting on the Biden administration to announce whether they’ll have to resume monthly payments in September. And whether they’ll have any of their debt canceled outright…[T]his time, the administration is cutting it closer to the restart of payments than any other point in the past two and a half years.”

Non-Profit & Gov’t Management & Hiring

• In the United States, “[p]retty much the entire U.S. nonprofit sector is witnessing a move from individually-determined charitable donations to institutionally- determined philanthropic strategies. A new report from the Institute for Policy Studies shows megaphilanthropy crowding out individual donations” (report available here)
• Also in the United States, “a survey released this week that examined workforce trends during the pandemic [found that n]early half of remote and hybrid government employees report team performance has improved over the past two years.”
• Again also in the United States, “[n]onprofits across the country are still struggling to find workers and consistent funding, according to a new survey. About 40 percent of charities say that employment remains their highest priority as service demands remain elevated because of inflation and the lingering pandemic.”
• In Iowa, “[t]he state added employees for the fourth consecutive month in July, according to an Iowa Workforce Development report released Thursday. During the recent upswing, local governments have added 2,800 jobs while state government agencies have added 600 jobs. Combined, the two public sectors account for one in four new jobs added since this spring.”

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In Indiana, “legal aid agencies across the state are struggling to find and hire attorneys to fill full-time staff positions. Providers speculate that lower bar passage rates and high demand for lawyers across the legal profession have created a supply issue…Ironically for civil legal aid in Indiana, the shortage of lawyers is coinciding with an influx of money from a $13.1 million grant from the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority. Legal aid groups are using the funds, in part, to hire new attorneys who will help clients with housing needs.”
  • Relatedly, in Indianapolis IN, “leaders from the the prosecutor's office, public defender's office and community corrections outlined their budget proposals to members of the Public Safety and Criminal Justice Committee. They're voicing concerns for programs in need of funding to help crack down on crime and ensure justice in Indianapolis.”
• In Chicago IL, the “North Suburban Legal Aid Clinic has been awarded a $125,000 state grant from the Illinois Equal Justice Foundation to provide free legal assistance to local residents facing eviction.”
• In Oregon, “state lawmakers allocated $6 million to community groups this year to help with what they’ve called a humanitarian crisis for workers in the state’s cannabis industry[:] recover[ing] stolen wages for cannabis farm workers[.]”
• In Wisconsin, “Legal Action of Wisconsin received a $360,000 Pro Bono Innovation Fund grant to expand its Lawyer-For-A-Day program. The program, which already exists to defend low-income residents in eviction court, will now also be offered to low-income clients facing debt collectors and debt buyers in small claims court.”
• In Alaska, “a new department in the Alaska Court System…is providing resources to the public in an effort to help the public better navigate legal matters.”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Alberta, “defence lawyers will not take on legal aid files pertaining to very serious criminal offences starting Sept. 1. The Criminal Defence Lawyers Association (Calgary), the Criminal Trial Lawyers Association (Edmonton), the Southern Alberta Defence Lawyers Association and the Red Deer Criminal Lawyers Association issued a release Thursday saying members will ‘begin refusing new certificates for all criminal appeals,’ and ‘refuse new legal aid files involving the most serious criminal offences – those classified as level 2.5 or level 3 offences by Legal Aid Alberta.’ Offences deemed to be level 2.5 and level 3 by Legal Aid Alberta include ‘most sexual offences, firearms- related offences, all homicides and dangerous offender proceedings.’ The groups stopped taking cases in response to what they believe is underfunding by the province.”
• In Minnesota, “State Public Defender Bill Ward faces a vote of no confidence from union public defenders, who say he has failed to advocate for the office and allowed morale to reach its lowest point in decades.”
• In Oregon, “Oregon’s chief justice fired all the members of the Public Defense Services Commission[], frustrated that hundreds of defendants charged with crimes and who cannot afford an attorney have been unable to obtain public defenders to represent them. The unprecedented action comes as Oregon’s unique public defender system has come under such strain that it is at the breaking point. Criminal defendants in Oregon who have gone without legal representation due to a shortage of public defenders filed a lawsuit in May that alleges the state is violating their constitutional right to legal counsel and a speedy trial.”
  • Relatedly, “[t]he day after the Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice fired all nine members of the state commission that oversees public defense, she said she was appointing four new commissioners and reappointing five commissioners from the previous group.”
• In Indiana, the State “Supreme Court has approved a proposed schedule of minimum fees for the state’s public defenders appointed in trial and appellate cases.”
• In New York State, “Chenango County and all of upstate may have to follow New York City’s lead when it comes to a significant rate increase for public defenders. The county’s budget office has warned local officials of a possible 110 percent rate hike that would require the county to pay indigent defense fees of $158 per hour, up from the $75 per hour currently paid. If enacted, it would be the first pay raise that public defenders have seen in two decades.”

Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform

• In Hillsborough County FL, “[a] Florida prosecutor is suing Gov. Ron DeSantis for suspending him from office over his pledges to not prosecute cases related to abortion and gender-transition treatments.”
• In Los Angeles County CA, “[t]he bid to recall progressive Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon failed to qualify for the ballot because the campaign lacked enough valid signatures.”
• In New York State, “[t]he surprise resignation of Chief Judge Janet DiFiore has set up a tense nomination battle to select her successor. Although the actual nomination will not happen until this fall, a coalition of left-wing groups has begun mobilizing to pressure Gov. Kathy Hochul to nominate a progressive pick who will reverse the Court of Appeal’s drift to the right under DiFiore.”
• In Savannah GA, “The City [] is planning to recruit a special prosecutor to handle federal offenses stemming from Savannah, a surely unprecedented move the city is making to try and address its out of control crime problem.”
• In Virginia, “Commonwealth's attorneys offices statewide are experiencing staffing shortages, but the Shenandoah County Commonwealth's Attorney Office is having a particularly hard time. The office has just two employees.”

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello, interested public!

Hope you’re all hanging in there. It’s another blockbuster of a week, beginning with (in the US) newly-unearthed historical evidence that the basis for law enforcement’s doctrine of “qualified immunity” rests on a copying error from 1874. Florida is still digesting the consequences of Gov. DeSantis’ decision to remove a locally-elected state prosecutor who stated he would refuse to bring abortion-related cases, while journalists in San Francisco reported that newly-appointed DA Brooke Jenkins drew a six-figure salary from a group working to recall her predecessor that claimed she was an unpaid volunteer. Meanwhile, all eyes remain on the Biden Administration’s self-imposed deadline of August 31 as it continues to weigh its options for student loan reform.

In Canada, Crown prosecutors spoke in support of their criminal defender colleagues’ ongoing labor action against the Alberta government as they work to achieve better wages and working conditions and the Department of Justice released a report on the lack of access to legal aid in family law disputes.

Take care of one another,

Sam

Editor’s Choices

• In the Chronicle of Philanthropy, a letter to the editor responded to a recent article on how to “Humanize Your Hiring Process” by arguing that “[the article] left out a major dimension of the human experience: disability… One in four adults in the United States is disabled, and yet people with disabilities are significantly underrepresented in nonprofit and philanthropic organizations.”
• In the California Law Review, Professor Alex Reinert of Cardozo Law revealed that the basis for the “Qualified Immunity” doctrine apparently rests on a scrivener’s error: “Congress that passed Section 1983 meant to explicitly displace common-law protections. Most critically, scholars and courts have overlooked the originally-enacted version of Section 1983, which contained a provision that specifically disapproved of any state law limitations on the new cause of action. For unknown reasons, that provision was not included by the Reviser of the Federal Statutes in the first compilation of federal law in 1874. This Article is the first to unearth the lost text of Section 1983 and demonstrate its implications.”

Reproductive Justice

• In Tampa Bay FL, “the chief state prosecutor in the Tampa area says he will vigorously fight his removal from office by Governor Ron DeSantis. DeSantis says Hillsborough County state attorney Andrew Warren was neglecting his duty by failing to enforce Florida's laws that restrict abortion or prohibit gender-affirming care for minors.”
  • Relatedly, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor tweeted in response to the governor’s order that “[r]emoving a duly elected official should be based on egregious actions—not political statements. In a free state, voters should choose their elected officials.”
• In Iowa, “Republican Governor Kim Reynolds [] asked a state trial court [] to lift its injunction that bars enforcement of a 2018 state law that makes abortions illegal after a fetal heartbeat has been detected.”
• In Delaware, “[a]ttorneys from almost a dozen Delaware law firms have agreed to offer pro bono legal advice on abortion-related issues to those who contact a free and anonymous helpline set up by the attorney general’s office.”
• In Minnesota, “[a] jury found that a pharmacy did not discriminate against a woman when it refused to give her the morning-after pill. The pharmacist gave ‘belief’ as the reason for refusing to fill the prescription for emergency contraception. Although the jury decided that the woman’s rights had not been violated, it did say that the emotional damage caused by the decision amounted to $25,000.”

Immigration

• In New York NY, “migrants continued arriving in New York City [] a day after city officials took aim at Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for busing migrants detained at the border to the city as part of his campaign to draw attention to the influx of migrant crossing from Mexico.”
• In Tennessee, “[a] judge [] shot down a bid by the federal government to force each of the 104 Grainger County slaughterhouse workers rounded up in a legally suspect raid to file suit against agents accused of targeting them solely based on their race or ethnicity…[Judge] McDonough ruled there is ample evidence showing federal agents targeted all Hispanic workers at the plant under a single plan to turn what was supposed to be a search for proof of tax evasion by the slaughterhouse owner into the largest immigration raid in recent Tennessee history.”
• In Washington DC, “[t]he Pentagon rejected a request from the District of Columbia seeking National Guard assistance in what the mayor has called a ‘growing humanitarian crisis’ prompted by thousands of migrants being bused to the city from two southern states.”

Rule of Law

• In Hamilton County TN, “[a] newly elected district attorney in Tennessee said during her campaign she would consider prosecuting teachers and librarians who stock LGBTQ books in libraries, but ultimately called on school boards to ban books from schools.”
• The Editorial Advisory Board of Maryland’s Daily Record condemned US Supreme Court Justice Alito’s recent remarks at Notre Dame Law School’s religious liberty initiative in Rome, writing that “[h]is flippant comments further damage a court already damaged in the eyes of many by what appear to be decisions motivated by politics or religion. And more to the point, there are numerous abortion decisions pending, and no doubt yet to be brought, in the federal courts. Some think the Supreme Court is in a legitimacy crisis. Alito’s sometimes sarcastic remarks at this Rome event certainly did not help, and in the eyes of many hurt the court.”

Free & Fair Elections

• In Michigan, “Attorney General Dana Nessel is seeking an outside prosecutor to consider charges against a group of prominent individuals for having allegedly engaged in a ’conspiracy’ to unlawfully gain access to voting machines used in the 2020 presidential election.”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In Washington DC, “[w]ith just three weeks remaining until the federal pause on student loan payments ends, borrowers have been left in limbo while President Joe Biden stays mum on whether he will forgive student debt for millions of Americans, and whether payments will resume after the moratorium expires on Aug. 31. The White House has said Biden will make a decision by the end of August, after the president initially said in April he’d announce a decision within a ‘couple of weeks.’”
• Also in Washington DC, “White House officials [met] with student debt activists and advocacy groups ahead of President Joe Biden’s self-imposed deadline of Aug. 31 for deciding whether to approve broad-based debt relief for millions of Americans.”
• Forbes published a comparison of two major proposals on student loan forgiveness.
• In Boston MA, the Hildreth Institute published a report calling for “remov[ing] the interest obligation on students,” arguing that “[t]he government can offset the cost of waiving interest payments by investing the principal payments to generate revenue.”

Non-Profit & Gov’t Management & Hiring

• In Washington DC, “[a] group of federal watchdogs is working to make the oversight community more diverse, inclusive, equitable and accessible through personnel practices as well as the work they do, which aligns with the Biden administration’s goals for the federal workforce at-large.”
• Also in Washington DC, the Federal News Network argued that “[a] new bill introduced in the House of Representatives, titled the Public Service Reform Act, is not about public service and is certainly not reform. Rather than addressing accountability or hiring and pay challenges, the bill would make all federal workers at-will employees. The result would be a civil service that is little more than two million political appointees.”
• In New York, “[t]he New York State Bar Association announced the creation of a 20-member task force [] designed to review legal ethics questions for attorneys who represent government entities.”
• In Augusta GA, “[a] public defender’s office argued to the Georgia Court of Appeals [] that it has governmental immunity from a former staffer’s claim she was wrongly fired for seeking accommodations for her breast cancer treatment.”
• In Delaware County PA, a recently-filed lawsuit alleged “[a] pattern of gender-based discrimination was uncovered last year following the unionization of the [county] public defender’s office[.]”
• In Chicago IL, “[a] U.S. appeals court in Chicago [] called for an end to federal court oversight of state hiring, freeing Gov. J.B. Pritzker and future governors from scrutiny that has endured through eight administrations over a half-century.”

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In Canada, the Department of Justice “has recently released a commission report discussing the impact of the lack of access to legal aid in family law disputes in Canada.” (full report available here)
• In Akron OH, “[f]our months after an Eviction Summit— which was attended by hundreds— was held in Akron, a new report is listing several suggestions to prevent evictions.” (full report available here)
• In Chicago IL, Block Club Chicago reported on “legal deserts”: areas “where it’s not easy to access legal aid and representation [that] often disproportionately affect low-income Chicagoans, as well as Black and Latino residents, women, older people, immigrants, people with disabilities and members of the LGBTQ+ community[.]”–and on the organizations working to address these shortages.

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Alberta, “[t]hree days after a meeting with [Justice Minister] Shandro and Legal Aid Alberta CEO John Panusa, [criminal defense lawyers’] associations said they would expand their partial work stoppage an additional two weeks. Members of the voluntary associations will no longer provide certain bail and duty counsel services through Sept. 2[:] ‘If minister Shandro and CEO Panusa continue to bury their heads in the sand, our members will continue to withdraw legal services[.]’”
  • Relatedly, “Crown prosecutors are coming to the defence of their courtroom opponents, the same day as dozens of criminal defence lawyers across the province walked off the job in support of calls for improved legal aid funding.”
• In Quebec’s northern Nunavik region, a new report argues that “[t]he justice system…should be better adapted to local culture and have a more permanent presence in the area[.]” (full report available here)
• In Pennsylvania, “[a] nonprofit law firm and youth basketball league have filed a lawsuit alleging Pennsylvania’s ChildLine Registry, which determines who ends up on its list of child abusers, is unconstitutional. The lawsuit [] claims parents and caregivers are placed on the child abuse registry without first having a chance to meaningfully challenge the evidence against them and with only a cursory investigation.”
• In Colorado, “[a] federal judge vented his frustration [] at Colorado's public defender office, repeatedly raising his voice and insisting the office violated a legal directive when it determined an indigent Larimer County couple did not qualify for appointed counsel in their pending criminal case.”
• In Montgomery County TX, “[i]n a continued effort to control costs associated with Montgomery County’s criminal and civil courts, commissioners were supportive of a new position they believe could save money in the long run. [The new position] would verify eligibility of defendants applying for court-appointed attorneys.”
• In Spokane County WA, the director of the Public Defender’s Office “is proposing to move two of the attorneys from his staff into a separate office to handle cases that would otherwise have to be sent outside the system.” He claims the county “could save $250,000 a year, or possibly more, by not sending ‘conflict cases’ out to private attorneys[.]”
• In Indiana, the state’s “Supreme Court has approved a proposed schedule of minimum fees for the state’s public defenders appointed in trial and appellate cases.”
• In Maine and New Hampshire, “courts are struggling to find enough lawyers to represent the state’s poor against criminal charges.”

Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform

• In San Francisco CA, “District Attorney Brooke Jenkins doesn’t appear to have broken any laws by netting more than $100,000 from a nonprofit closely tied to the recall effort against her former boss Chesa Boudin. But her previously undisclosed six-figure salary, accrued while the recall campaign touted Jenkins as an unpaid volunteer, could raise issues of public perception for the district attorney as her political viability is put to the test in November when Jenkins will run for election for the first time.”
• In Cook County IL, the county “public defender office raised important concerns about gun control laws. They’ve identified a pattern of racism in the enforcement of such laws in Chicago, but can’t determine how bad the problem is or how to solve it without more information.”
• In Hennepin County MN, “Mary Moriarty, former chief public defender in Hennepin County, [received] more than 36% of the votes [in the County Attorney primary race]. She will proceed to a run-off in November, when she will take on Martha Holton Dimick, who finished second[.]”

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello, interested public!

Hope you’re all hanging in there as we round out the summer with a new federal public health emergency. Dramatic news continues this week, as a national prosecutor association condemns Florida Governor DeSantis’ move to suspend an elected state attorney for pledging not to prosecute people under the state’s new anti-abortion law. Relatedly, a local prosecutor in Minnesota clashed with the MN attorney general over whether to appeal a recent court ruling there finding a state constitutional protection for abortion rights. Meanwhile, pressure is mounting on the Biden administration from state Attorney Generals, Democratic members of Congress, and Republican opposition as they continue to defer their promised decision about student loan reform. In Canada, criminal defense attorneys in Alberta voted in favor of “escalating work stoppages” this week.

Take care of one another,

Sam

Editor’s Choices

• In the LA Times, Partners for Justice’s Regional Program Director for California argued that “[t]he appointment of Brooke Jenkins as San Francisco’s new district attorney culminates months of evidence that the criminal justice reform movement needs a new playbook…the route to safer communities cannot run solely through progressive prosecutors…A more sustainable tool for criminal justice reform — maybe our most powerful yet — is to invest in public defenders.”
• ProPublica has put out a call for public defenders and criminal defense attorneys to join their network of volunteer sources: “We may contact you with questions about your expertise and the intricacies of the criminal justice system. We will also share occasional updates about stories in the works [and] also welcome your suggestions for stories.”

Reproductive Justice

• In Tallahassee FL, “Gov. Ron DeSantis’ decision [] to suspend elected Tampa-area state attorney Andrew Warren for pledging not to prosecute people under the state’s new anti-abortion law was called a ‘unprecedented and dangerous intrusion’ to prosecutor independence, according to a national prosecutor group.”
• In Washington DC, “[i]n a virtual meeting…with a team of lawyers, Mr. Garland said the effect of the high court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which sent the issue of abortion back to state legislatures, was ‘immediate, wide-ranging and devastating.’”
• Also in Washington DC, “President Joe Biden…signed another executive order aimed at protecting access to abortions, this time with the goal of helping patients travel to other states to access reproductive health care services.”
• In Boston MA, “President Joe Biden said…he is nominating Julie Rikelman, an attorney who represented the Mississippi abortion clinic at the center of the recent [SCOTUS] ruling overturning the constitutional right to abortion, to a vacancy on the First Circuit.”
• In Michigan, “[a] judge blocked enforcement of a 1931 Michigan ban on abortion…just hours after the state Court of Appeals said county prosecutors were not covered by a May order and could enforce the prohibition following the fall of Roe v. Wade.”
  • Meanwhile, “[MI] Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is again pressing the Michigan Supreme Court to consider whether the state constitution protects an individual’s right to abortion services.”
• In Wyoming, “[t]he abortion advocates suing Wyoming over its abortion ban asked a state court [] to block the ban throughout the court proceedings.”
• In Idaho, “[t]he [US] Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Idaho over the state’s law banning abortion after six weeks, saying that federal law requires doctors and hospitals to perform medically required abortions to preserve the pregnant person’s health.”
• In Traverse County MN, “County Attorney Matthew Franzese filed a motion [] to intervene to appeal a Ramsey County judge’s ruling that threw out many of Minnesota’s restrictions on abortion. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said last week he would not appeal the ruling by Ramsey County Judge Thomas Gilligan which said restrictions — including a mandatory 24-hour waiting period, a requirement that both parents be notified before a minor can get an abortion and the law dictating that only physicians can perform abortions — were not allowed given the Minnesota Constitution’s protection of the right to abortion.”

Immigration

• In Providence RI, “[a] new city program will provide immigration-focused legal services to foreign-born residents seeking U.S. citizenship or those who want renew [sic] their lawful immigration status.”

Rule of Law

• On the internet, LexisNexis’ Rule of Law Foundation launched its U.S. Voting Laws & Legislation Center–”[a] tool…to provide citizens with free access to the most comprehensive collection of US voting laws, legislative developments, and news.”
• In Washington DC, “Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks ordered the Defense Department to save data from mobile devices after reports information was deleted from former top officials’ phones, including text messages from Jan. 6, 2021. Hicks in an Aug. 3 memo calls records retention a “solemn responsibility and legal obligation for all federal employees, civilian and military” and states text messages that conduct public business qualify as records.”
• Also in Washington DC, “[a]mid ongoing issues with investigations into the attack on the U.S. Capitol, a Senate Democrat wants to shore up records access for watchdogs and information sharing with lawmakers. The Homeland Security inspector general has been under fire for his handling of investigations into missing text messages from Secret Service agents and top Trump Homeland Security officials in the lead up to the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021. Now, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee's panel on Homeland Security, has introduced legislation aimed at fixing issues raised going forward with all IGs.”

Free & Fair Elections

• In Fulton County GA, “Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has added former President Donald Trump's first White House counsel, Donald McGahn, to his legal team [as] Graham continues to fight a subpoena ordering him to appear before a grand jury in Fulton County's criminal investigation into efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the state.”
• In Austin TX, “a federal judge [] ordered the Texas Secretary of State to release records about a state program that claims to identify non-U.S. citizens on the voter rolls.”

Human Rights

• In Los Angeles CA, “The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Law has launched a database that will track and analyze efforts against critical race theory (CRT) that seek to limit the teaching of race and racism in U.S. schools.”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• Across the United States, “20 state attorneys general — led by Illinois' Kwame Raoul and Massachusetts' Maura Healey — wrote a letter to President Joe Biden and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona urging them to extend a temporary waiver for borrowers enrolled in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, which is intended to forgive student debt for government and nonprofit workers after ten years of qualifying payments.”
• In Chicago IL, “[t]he Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) announced today the Department has issued a letter to all federal student loan servicers encouraging them to immediately implement best practices to help alert and educate eligible student loan holders about the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. As the primary contact for many student loan borrowers, servicers are in the best position to increase awareness about PSLF and help borrowers take advantage of the program.”
• In Washington DC, “[m]ore than 100 congressional Democrats are urging the White House to extend the pause on student loan repayment beyond the Aug. 31 deadline.”
• Also in Washington DC, “members of the NAACP are demanding that the president eliminate a large portion of debt for Black borrowers.”
• Again also in Washington DC, “[a] new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office finds the U.S. Department of Education miscalculated the cost of the federal student loan program. From 1997 to 2021, the Education Department estimated that payments from federal direct student loans would generate $114 billion for the government. But the GAO found that, as of 2021, the program has actually cost the government an estimated $197 billion.”
  • Importantly, US Senators (led by Sen. Warren) have noted for years that “Congress did not create federal student loans to generate revenue for the federal government…Federal student loan programs were created by Congress to provide an opportunity for every young person who works hard and plays by the rules to pursue higher education.”
• Meanwhile, also again also in Washington DC, “Reps. Virginia Foxx, Elise Stefanik, and Jim Banks introduced the Responsible Education Assistance Through Loan, or REAL, Reforms Act, which is intended to act as an ’alternative’ to proposals the Education Department has put forth to reform student-loan programs.”

Non-Profit & Gov’t Management & Hiring

• In Washington DC, “[a] group of five conservative Republicans has introduced legislation to make the federal government an at-will employer, eviscerating civil service protections, chilling whistleblower activity and abolishing the Merit Systems Protection Board.”
• Also in Washington DC, “Senate Democrats last week introduced the chamber's full slate of 12 bills to set line-by-line fiscal 2023 spending at every federal agency, though they remain significantly divided with Republicans over how to avoid a shutdown in just two months.”
• In Los Angeles CA, “[the] County Board of Supervisors approved a motion [] that will allow the county to hire non-U.S. citizens.”
• In New York NY, “Mayor Eric Adams and Comptroller Brad Lander joined other city officials in the Bronx to announce that since May 9 the city had advanced 2,600 contract actions worth more than $4.2 billion helping 451 non-profit organizations in the city.”

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In California, the “chief justice of the California Supreme Court[] said that the state legislature is responsible for stalling efforts to bring about regulatory reforms to address the state’s gap in access to justice[.]”
• Also in California, legal ethics professors from Stanford and UCLA argued that “[t]he justice gap has grown so large that we cannot just lawyer our way out of it. Creative solutions are also needed[, such as]…licens[ing] the legal equivalent of nurse practitioners to help people with routine legal problems [and] let[ting] lawyers partner with other professionals, such as business experts, technologists, and social service workers.”
• In Tampa FL, the city “announced plans to work with Bay Area Legal Services (BALS), which could potentially help renters looking for legal services.”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Alberta, “100 criminal defence lawyers from Calgary’s Criminal Defence Lawyers Association, Edmonton’s Criminal Trial Lawyers Association and the Southern Alberta Defence Lawyers’ Association voted in favour of job action. ‘Through escalating work stoppages, our members will make clear to the government that Legal Aid Alberta’s budget needs to be increased now,’ a joint statement read[.]”
  • Relatedly, “[c]riminal lawyers in Alberta say the legal aid system is at a breaking point, and they are threatening legal action if the province ignores requests for detailed updates to the program.”
• In Chenango County NY, “officials reported they may no longer be able to hold court or provide defense lawyers outside of regular, weekday work hours.”
• In Boston MA, “[i]nmates with local ties who are being held in solitary confinement at MCI-Cedar Junction, in South Walpole, have filed a class action lawsuit against the state prison system, alleging inhumane treatment during their extended time in isolation. Boston College Law School Civil Rights Clinic and the law firm of Holland & Knight announced in a press release that they had filed the lawsuit recently against the Department of Correction.”
• In Oregon, the state’s “federal public defender has asked a judge to appoint a special investigator to look into allegations that guards at the federal prison in Sheridan are retaliating against inmates for speaking out about their conditions behind bars.”
• Also in Oregon, the state’s “Public Defense Services Commission approved a plan to pay a rate of $158 per hour for in-custody felony cases to lawyers who are not currently under contract through the end of this year. The current rate is $105.”
• In New York NY, “[a] judge has ordered the New York Police Department to release documents pertaining to its monitoring of Black Lives Matters protests during the summer of 2020, requiring it to release 2,700 emails and other documents to the public or state why it fall [sic] ‘and/or allege with specificity that each document falls within one of the enumerated exemptions of Public Officers Law.’ ”
• In San Francisco CA, “[t]he process Arizona has in place for defendants challenging convictions in non-capital cases as of right was upheld by the Ninth Circuit against a challenge by an indigent defendant who said it violated his constitutional right to appellate counsel.”

Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform

• In San Francisco CA, “District Attorney Brooke Jenkins on Wednesday announced tougher new policies to hold drug dealers accountable, but her new crackdown brought swift criticism from the Public Defender, who called her philosophy ‘regressive,’ and [argued it] will disproportionately harm communities of color.”
  • Relatedly, former San Francisco district attorney Chesa Boudin “announced [] that he would not run to wrest back the seat he lost in a June recall election, averting a second bruising clash over criminal justice.”
• In New Jersey, “[a]ccording to a lawsuit filed by the New Jersey Office of the Public Defender (OPD), [because a]ll babies born in the state of New Jersey are required to have a blood sample drawn within 48 hours as part of a mandatory testing program that screens them for 60 different disorders. [If] police are able to reliably obtain the samples through subpoena, then effectively, the disease screening process is entering all babies born in the state into a DNA database with no ability to opt out. According to the lawsuit, parents and the public at large are unaware that blood samples taken from their children could be used in this way.”
• In Bexar County TX, the district attorney’s office celebrated that “in three years police have issued more than 6,200 citations rather than arresting and jailing people for a variety of nonviolent, low-level crimes.”
• In Travis County TX, “[t]he Texas Department of Public Safety refused to publicly release official records related to the Robb Elementary School shooting at the request of the Uvalde County district attorney’s office[.]”
• In Kenly NC, “[t]he mass exodus of an entire police department after the hiring of a Black town manager…has opened a conversation about public safety and race relations in a small town of just over 1,500 residents.”