PSJD Public Interest News Digest – March 3, 2023

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Photo: Harris and Ewing Collection, Library of Congress

 

Hello, interested public! Major news this week revolved around DC, where the Supreme Court weighed the arguments against student loan relief and granted certiorari in a case challenging the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau while the Biden Administration adopted immigration policies that legal experts compared to Trump’s “transit ban”. On a more local level, governments continue to focus on funding for prosecutors and public defenders, including in Maine, private attorneys are stepping up to represent indigent clients after lawmakers nearly doubled their hourly rate–but advocates insist more reforms are needed, in New York, Governor Hochul’s Budget proposed tens of millions of new spending dollars for prosecutors while rejecting a request from public defender organizations for parity funding, and in Houston TX, where reporting revealed that a former prosecutor has collected over $1 million last year representing indigent defendants on a contract basis.

As always, these stories and more are in the links below.

Take care of one another,

Sam

Editor’s Choice

Student Loans & Student Debt

Immigration & Refugee Issues

Environmental Justice

Gender & Reproductive Rights

Non-Profit & Government Management & Hiring

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

Access to Justice – Criminal

Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform