Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello, interested public!

Unfortunately, we’ve had to add a new category to cover all of the new ethics concerns about the actions of our Supreme Court Justices–our first article under the Student Loans category ties in with these ethics concerns. Additionally, the news surrounding St. Louis County Attorney Kim Gardner comes to a close as she resigns in the wake of efforts to oust her from office. Finally, we’ve expanded our public defender hiring crisis category to include prosecutor offices as more and more news is shared.

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

Happy reading,

Brittany

Editor’s Choice

• In the United States, “[a]round 200 legal department leaders have urged Congress to increase funding for the Legal Services Corporation as lower and middle income Americans search for help dealing with the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.”

Supreme Court Ethics Concerns

• In Washington, DC, “…the Senate Judiciary Committee will today hold a hearing on Supreme Court ethics reform. The hearing will proceed without the participation of Chief Justice Roberts, who refused an invitation to testify from Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin.”

• Excluding previously covered news about Justice Thomas, here is a list of recent articles discussing potentially unethical actions taken by Supreme Court Justices,

  • New coverage about Justice Thomas includes a report that “a conservative judicial activist helped Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, secure consulting work that yielded her nearly $100,000 — all the while asking that her name was left off the financial paperwork….”

  • Regarding Justice Gorsuch, “…[t]he chief executive of Greenberg Traurig, one of the nation’s biggest law firms with a robust practice before the high court[,]” purchased a property partially owned by Justice Gorsuch. Justice Gorsuch reported on the sale of the property, but he “did not disclose the identity of the purchaser. That box was left blank.”

  • “Justice Samuel Alito owns individual stock in ConocoPhillips and Phillips 66, both named in several” lawsuits up for review by the Supreme Court.

  • Regarding Justice Roberts, “[t]he chief justice’s wife, Jane Sullivan Roberts, has made millions in her career recruiting lawyers to prominent law firms, some of which have business before the court. Now, a letter sent to Congress claims that may present a conflict of interest.”

  • “Liberal Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor declined to recuse herself from multiple copyright infringement cases involving book publisher Penguin Random House despite having been paid millions by the firm for her books, making it by far her largest source of income, records show.”

  • Regarding Justice Kavanaugh, “[a] 2018 Senate investigation that found there was ‘no evidence’ to substantiate any of the claims of sexual assault against the US supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh contained serious omissions, according to new information obtained by the Guardian.”

• As you’ve probably seen, the New York Times reported on the controversial relationship between George Mason’s Scalia Law School and some sitting Supreme Court Justices. On this topic, Mother Jones reports, “The cozy ties of Justices Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas, and Brett Kavanaugh to George Mason’s Scalia Law School appear to be legal. But the report is the latest revelation into how conservatives who control the court have regularly received money and lavish perks from ideological backers and people with interests before the court.”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In the United States, “[t]he Roosevelt Institute and the Debt Collective’s bombshell report on the Supreme Court case over student debt cancellation, first reported by The New Republic, reveals that…the Court is poised to deny relief to 40 million student borrowers based on a claim of standing from a phantom plaintiff, which despite claims that it will be injured by the debt cancellation program, will in fact be enriched by it.”

• Also in the United States, “House Republicans' debt ceiling proposal would slash President Biden's student loan relief plan and undercut potential future student debt relief programs.”

• Also also in the United States, “[s]ome student loan servicers have recently cut back on customer service hours, adding to the fear that borrowers won't have sufficient support when transitioning back into repayment after a more than three-year pandemic pause.”

• In Washington, DC, “U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Waterford Twp.) last week introduced legislation she says will expand financial aid opportunities for students whose parents are still chipping away at their own student debt.”

• Also in Washington, DC, “U.S. Senators Mike Braun (R-Ind.) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) introduced on Thursday a bipartisan bill that would change a technicality in federal law that unnecessarily requires that PSLF applicants be employed in a public service role at the time of forgiveness, even if they have already made 120 qualifying payments.”

Eye on AI

• “Since ChatGPT is the most adopted of the generative AIs for lawyer usage, it was distressing that it presented cybersecurity and ethical concerns. Protecting the confidentiality of client data is an ethical mandate that made many lawyers and firms shy away from using ChatGPT. Happily, you can now turn off Chat History for ChatGPT.”

  • Relatedly, “OpenAI’s decision to allow people to opt out comes as the firm is under increasing pressure from European data protection regulators over how it uses and collects data.”

• “LexisNexis is announcing the launch of Lexis+ AI, a new product that uses large language models (LLMs), including GPT-4, to answer legal research questions, summarize legal issues, and generate drafts of documents such as demand letters or client emails.”

• In Washington, DC, “[t]he White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy wants information about automated systems being used in workplaces ‘to surveil, monitor, evaluate, and manage workers,’ it says in a request for information released Monday.”

• Also in Washington, DC, “…US Senator Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Representatives Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), Don Beyer (D-Va.), and Ken Buck (R-Colo.) announced bipartisan legislation that seeks to prevent an artificial intelligence system from making nuclear launch decisions.”

Immigration & Refugee Issues

• In the United States, “[a]s President Biden prepares to send 1,500 military personnel to the Southwest border in advance of an expected significant increase in migrant arrivals, House Republicans are coalescing around a sweeping bill that would revamp immigration laws and require more staffing at federal law enforcement agencies.”

  • Relatedly, “[t]he Biden administration failed to ensure individuals responsible for caring for migrant children in U.S. custody did not have criminal records, according to a new report, which found the failure could have placed the minors at risk.”

• Also in the United States, “[t]he number of applications for visas used in the technology industry soared for a second straight year, raising ‘serious concerns’ that some are manipulating the system to gain an unfair advantage….”

• In Florida, “…Governor Ron DeSantis is poised to sign tough penalties and restrictions that aims to obstruct the flow of illegal immigration to the state….”

• In Utah, “[t]he University of Utah’s S.J. Quinney College of Law’s new refugee law clinic [has] provided critical, just-in-time legal advice and support.”

Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity

• In Kansas, Montana, and Tennessee, “[l]awmakers…voted in the past few weeks to narrowly define who is ‘female’ and who is ‘male’ in state law using such terms as ‘gametes,’ ‘ova,’ ‘sex chromosomes,’ ‘genitalia’ and ‘immutable biological sex.’”

  • Relatedly, in Kansas, “[t]ransgender Kansans and people who need to get their gender markers changed on their birth certificates and IDs should act quickly before the state’s new anti-trans laws go into effect, according to an attorney who is a subject matter expert.”

    • On an exciting note, Ellen Bertels, the attorney interviewed in the above article, is one of the 2020-2021 PSJD Pro Bono Publico Award winners!

• In Michigan, “[l]ast month, Michigan joined [the twenty-two states and the District of Columbia] by expanding its civil rights statute (known as the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act) to expressly cover sexual orientation and gender identity and expression.”

Reproductive Rights

• In the United States, “[t]he Homeland Security Department has allegedly discriminated against certain pregnant women for years by forcing them to forfeit some of their duties, according to a lawsuit filed by a group of employees who were recently certified to bring their case as a class action.”

• Also in the United States, “[t]he U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a challenge to the legality of an Indiana requirement that abortion providers bury or cremate embryonic or fetal remains following the procedure, sidestepping another dispute involving a contentious Republican-backed state policy concerning abortion.”

• In California, “[State Attorney General Rob Bonta] has joined with law firms and advocacy groups to create a hotline that provides access to information and pro bono services for people who need legal help related to abortion, as the state seeks to become a safe haven for reproductive rights since Roe v. Wade was overturned.”

• In Kansas, “[t]wo hospitals that refused to provide an emergency abortion to a woman with life-threatening pregnancy complications are under investigation by the Department of Health and Human Services for violating federal law.”

• In Montana, “…the Montana Republican Party on Wednesday celebrated a stack of new laws restricting abortion and reproductive health care, setting up a likely clash with the state’s nearly 25-year-old court ruling that broadly permits abortion as a private medical choice.”

• In Utah, “[a] law to ban abortion clinics in Utah will be temporarily halted after a judge in the state ruled that the law, which was set to go into effect on Wednesday, will have to be held as the court considers a lawsuit by Planned Parenthood.”

• In Wisconsin, “[a]ttorneys for a Republican prosecutor urged a judge Thursday to toss out a lawsuit seeking to repeal Wisconsin’s 174-year-old abortion ban, arguing that a newer state law permitting pre-viability abortions complements the ban rather than supersedes it, as Democrats maintain.”

Disability Rights

• In Pennsylvania, “[a]n anonymous woman with vision impairment has alleged that a Pennsylvania group tasked with overseeing the Law School Admission Test has violated her rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, by not providing her with an accommodation for screen-reading software to take the test.”

Environmental Crisis

• In the United States, following up on our previous coverage, “…the Environmental Protection Agency is set to unveil power plant rules that would rely on so-called ‘carbon capture’ technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. There are substantial problems with this approach that should provoke serious reservations.”

• In Indiana, “[t]he state is allowing AES Indiana to dump more than 1 million gallons of water contaminated with harmful coal ash pollutants directly into the White River every day, according to Indiana environmental groups who call the approval process a ‘contradictory shell game.’”

• In New York, “[the state] is about to become the nation’s first state to pass a law banning natural gas in most new buildings, Gov. Kathy Hochul said in an April 27 announcement of agreements reached with legislators for the fiscal year 2024 budget.”

• “In Texas, an energy company is building a power plant that can run on hydrogen, a fuel that is gaining steam because of new tax credits and upcoming federal regulations.”

Non-Profit & Government Management & Hiring

• In North Carolina, “[the] Senate is advancing a bill that would prohibit applicants for state employee positions to affirm their support for the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) agenda….The measure ensures that prospective state employees are not required to ‘endorse or opine on’ any belief as a condition of employment.”

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, “…Jenner & Block and co-counsel MacArthur Justice Center won a pro bono appeal for client Kevin Pitts in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit which held that the district court lacked authority to ‘prospectively adjudicate a strike’ under the Prison Litigation Reform Act's (PLRA) ‘three-strikes rule.’”

• In the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, “[a] lawyer for a Florida prosecutor on Tuesday urged a federal appeals court to reinstate his client after the state’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, indefinitely suspended him over his pledge not to prosecute people seeking or providing abortions.”

• Expanding on our coverage of right-to-counsel in eviction cases:

  • In St. Pete, Florida, “…[the] City Council’s Youth and Family Services (YFS) committee voted 3-1 to draft a resolution recommending that the administration create a citywide right to counsel for tenants facing eviction.”

  • In New Hampshire, “…[state] senators are considering a bill that would require landlords to give information on legal aid to tenants who are being evicted.”

  • In New York, “[m]unicipalities are gradually adopting so-called right to counsel programs, but most are struggling to find enough lawyers willing or able to do the work….”

  • In Multnomah County, OR, “[a] proposal for a local capital gains tax that would support tenants facing eviction will be decided by Multnomah County voters in the May 16 election….Money raised by the ballot measure's proposed tax on all Multnomah County residents would pay for lawyers for any tenant in the county facing eviction.”

• In Brownwood, TX, “[t]he…public library has introduced a legal services kiosk….Last week, a library in Austin reported a similar kiosk.”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Alameda County, CA, following up on our previous coverage, “Danielle Hilton, who had been with the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office for nearly three decades, told embattled DA Pamela Price that she could no longer perform her duties in good conscience last week.”

• In Contra Costa County, CA, following up on our previous coverage, “[t]he Contra Costa County Public Defender's Office estimates that 40 percent of the police department may have been involved in the texting scandal. Currently, 38 of the department's 99 officers are on leave.”

  • Relatedly, “the county Board of Supervisors unanimously agreed to help by spending $2.2 million for the hiring of 10 attorneys, five” each for the Contra Costa District Attorney and Public Defender’s offices to address the extreme number of cases up for review as a result of the “racist text messaging scandal.”

• In San Francisco, CA, “[a] national nonprofit – Civil Rights Corps – known for fighting for systemic injustice in the U.S. legal system said this week its filed an Amicus Brief and joined the San Francisco’s Public Defender Office in its call for the California State Supreme Court to weigh in on San Francisco Superior Court’s trial backlog.”

• In Fremont County, CO, “‘The 11th Judicial District Attorney’s Office has an established pattern and practice of violating and neglecting its discovery requirements,’ states a motion filed by defense attorney Adam Tunink on March 6. ‘Discovery violations have plagued individuals prosecuted by the 11th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.’”

• In Florida, “[a]nother state attorney in Florida, who is backed by Democrat megadonor George Soros, appears to be on the verge of being removed from office by Governor Ron DeSantis.”

• Also in Florida, “[t]he Board of Governors will consider a proposed rule amendment later this month that would facilitate greater use of remote technology in certain criminal proceedings.”

• In Georgia, “Georgia Republicans are pushing through legislation that threatens to remove from office locally-elected prosecutors who won’t charge certain types of cases, such as abortion or marijuana.”

• In St. Louis County, MO, “[e]mbattled St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, the city’s first Black prosecutor and a Democrat, announced Thursday that she will resign, following allegations of negligence and calls for her ouster by Republican leaders.”

  • Related to Gardner’s decision to resign, a bill before the Missouri legislature “would give the governor the power to appoint a special prosecutor for five years along with a police board….”

  • Prior to this decision, “Missouri State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick threatened Monday to file a lawsuit against Gardner, warning she's not handing over the information he needs to complete an audit to see if her office is wasting taxpayers' money.”

  • As previously covered, the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office has been experiencing multiple attorney resignations in the past few weeks:

    • “‘More recent departures from the Circuit Attorney’s Office — leaving fewer attorneys to prosecute hundreds of serious cases on the trial docket — are deeply concerning to the judges of the 22nd Judicial Circuit Court,’ court system spokesperson Joel Currier said in a statement.”

    • “For the third time in as many weekdays, an assistant circuit attorney parted ways with Kim Gardner's office yesterday.”

  • Following up on other previous coverage, “[t]he effort [to combine St. Louis County Prosecutor and St. Louis County Circuit Attorney offices] appears to have support from others neighboring St. Louis County.”

• In Texas, “[l]ocally elected prosecutors who do not enforce certain laws could be removed from office under a bill approved by the Texas House of Representatives on Friday [April 30th].”

• Also in Texas, “[t]he Senate confirmed career Dallas prosecutor Damien Diggs as the U.S. attorney for East Texas on Thursday, making him the first Black lawyer to lead the office responsible for federal law enforcement from Plano to Beaumont, including Jasper, where a notorious racial murder took place.”

Prosecutor & Public Defender Office Hiring Crises

• In Fulton County, GA, “[t]he defense attorneys in the YSL RICO trial don’t think they’re getting paid enough to represent their clients, which has led them to consider other forms of income” and has made it difficult for them to work on their other cases.

• In Hawai’i, “Hawai‘i County Prosecuting Attorney Kelden Waltjen said he started seeing more public defenders withdrawing from cases in the past couple of months because ‘they didn’t have the bandwidth to handle the influx of those class A felony cases.’”

• In Illinois, “State’s Attorney Erika Reynolds advised the McLean County Board’s Justice Committee of the difficulty she is having hiring attorneys at a meeting on Tuesday.”

• In Iowa, “[the state] legislature is poised to raise the pay for attorneys who represent indigent defendants by five dollars an hour” to address the shortage of indigent defense attorneys and trial delays.

• In Adams County, NE, “…officials are bringing in a former district court judge to provide guidance on the future of the county Public Defender’s Office.”

• In Jackson County, OR, “[l]ast week, a Jackson County Circuit Court heard nearly 20 motions from defendants asking to have their cases dismissed. The reasoning? A lack of court-appointed counsel.”

• In Wisconsin, “[a] new report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum found public attorneys across the state are being paid significantly less than private attorneys. That’s led to a shortage of public defenders.”

• In Gregg County, TX, “…District Attorney John Moore said the county has been going through a criminal prosecutor shortage since before the COVID-19 pandemic.”

• In multiple counties in Texas, “…members of the Commissioners Court authorized Victoria County to submit a grant application for a regional public defender office. Office staff would serve Victoria, Jackson, Lavaca and Refugio counties.”

Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform

• In the United States, “[t]he Black population in U.S. prisons increased [during the COVID-19 pandemic] while the overall population decreased by record numbers, according to a recently published study by researchers at Yale University and Northeastern University.”

• In Clay and Dickinson Counties, IA, a new drug court is now available as “[a] new route for those arrested for drug offenses….”

• In Missouri, “[state] Senate Bill 189 establishes expungement clinics– pro bono organizations that would assist those in need with the process of seeking expungement for applicable criminal charges and convictions involving cannabis.”

• In New York, “Gov. Kathy Hochul stood shoulder to shoulder with New York City prosecutors Wednesday to celebrate reining in the state’s controversial 2019 cash bail reforms and boosting funding for gun-violence prevention….Under the latest changes, judges will have more discretion to set bail in violent cases by no longer being required to impose the ‘least restrictive’ means at arraignment.”

• In Franklin County, OH, “[i]n an attempt to curb [the rising number of domestic violence-related homocides], Klein announced Thursday his office will begin asking judges for at least a $500,000 cash surety bond for domestic violence offenses involving a gun or significant injury.”

• In Travis County, TX, “[n]ew data from the Travis County Attorney’s Office shows Black and Latino people have been disproportionately arrested by state police in the last few weeks. The data provides a look into the first few weeks of the Austin Police Department’s partnership with the Texas Department of Public Safety – and raises concerns about racial profiling.”

• In Wisconsin, “[t]he [state l]egislature is considering a bipartisan bill that would make it easier for a judge to order that a criminal conviction be completely erased from a person’s record.”

Public Safety

• In San Diego, CA, “[g]un violence restraining orders, approved by Superior Court judges, are intended to be used as a tool for crisis intervention; critics decry them as overreach[.]”

• In Colorado, “…Governor Polis signed four bills into law Friday morning, surrounded by the bills’ sponsors and activists who advocated for the policies aiming to curb gun violence. Minutes after those four bills were signed into law, the nonprofit gun rights advocacy group Rocky Mountain Gun Owners said they were already challenging two of them in the court.”

• In Florida, “[the state] legislator recently enacted House Bill 543, which authorized concealed carry of weapons or firearms (with or without a license to carry). The law becomes effective on July 1, 2023.”