PSJD Public Interest News Digest – August 12, 2022
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
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[.]’”
- 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[.]”