PSJD Public Interest News Digest – June 29, 2018
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives 
Hello there, interested public. Lots of news this week. I’ll let the pieces speak for themselves.
See you around,
Sam
Immigration
- According to Law.com, “[t]he ABA is coordinating volunteers and donations through its South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project.”
- PRNewsWire.com reports that HKM Employment Attorneys “agree[d] to provide pro bono legal assistance to any federal employee who refuses to separate children from their parents at the border.“
- In Texas, the President of the State Bar Association released a statement to members of the bar, urging Texas attorneys to volunteer: “Whenever we have had manmade or natural disasters in this state, Texas lawyers have risen to the occasion to help those who cannot help themselves.“
- In Austin, Texas, the Austin Bar Association held clinics preparing lawyers to assist families through the initial steps of the asylum process.
- Also in Texas, the Texas Tribune published a “list of organizations that are mobilizing to help immigrant children separated from their families.“
- In Oregon, the ACLU “sued the federal government…to open access for attorneys to work with immigration detainees housed in Sheridan’s federal correctional institution.” The District Court has granted a temporary restraining order forcing the Department of Homeland Security to Allow attorneys to visit or communicate with civil immigration detainees.
- In Albany, NY, lawyers from Greenberg Traurig “working pro bono with LegalHealth, New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG), helped draft and lobby for legislation [now] signed into law to allow parents who are at risk of detainment or deportation based on immigration status to designate a standby guardian to care for their children in the event the parent is detained or deported.“
- Also in New York, “[a]fter demonstrators began protesting outside a New York City immigration court and temporary detention facility, federal authorities started holding immigration hearings through video conference.“
- Also in New York, “[t]he New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) announced a plan yesterday to bring pro bono leaders from several New York law firms and attorneys throughout the state to help the families that have been separated after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.“
- In Florida, “[several]…law firms have pledged to help reunify separated immigrant families and volunteered to represent asylum seekers on the U.S.-Mexico border.”
- In California, “[i]mmigrant-rights advocates asked a federal judge to order the release of parents separated from their children at the border, as dozens of demonstrators decrying the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown were arrested Tuesday at a rally ahead of a Los Angeles appearance by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.“
- Also in California, the state legislature sent two bills to the governor’s desk “that would boost legal aid for immigrant students by $21 million.“
- The ABA reported that “[t]he Lawyers for Good Government Foundation is organizing an effort to reunite immigrant families separated by the federal government after they were caught crossing the U.S. border…[the project] brings together large law firms and immigration law nonprofits.“
- According to the Huffington Post, “[h]undreds of Georgetown University alumni are calling on Kirstjen Nielsen, a fellow alumna, to resign as homeland security secretary over her role in separating migrant children from their parents at the border.“
Student Loans
- In California, “California’s attorney general said he would file a lawsuit accusing the company of widespread deceptions and mistakes that cost borrowers millions of dollars…California would be the fourth and largest state to sue Navient, joining Illinois, Pennsylvania and Washington.“
- Also in California, “[a] U.S. judge on Wednesday threw out a lawsuit by the state of California accusing the Trump administration of illegally reneging on an Obama-era commitment to quickly forgive the loans of students defrauded by the Corinthian for-profit college chain.” The state has an opportunity to amend its suit to establish standing.
Pro Bono
- In Pennsylvania, “[r]etired Pennsylvania attorneys interested in providing pro bono legal service will now be eligible for emeritus status through a new program approved by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.“
- Law.com profiled a number of large firms’ recent contributions to cases seeking to redress gerrymandering.
Environmental Law
Legal Technology
- At Amazon.com, “[e]mployees…are calling on chief executive Jeff Bezos to end the sale of facial recognition technology to law enforcement agencies and to discontinue partnerships with firms that work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).“
- In a gloss on the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Carpenter v. United States, the Director of NYU’s Policing Project wrote in the New York Times that “[t]he growing use of technology by law enforcement agencies to monitor or target people — particularly people and communities of color — is expanding at head-spinning speed, and nothing the courts do is going to stop that…What we need is regulation, and fast, and it is going to have to come from the local, state and federal governments, not the courts. Even Justice Samuel Alito, in his dissent, understood that “legislation is much preferable.” He said that was “for many reasons, including the enormous complexity of the subject, the need to respond to rapidly changing technology, and the Fourth Amendment’s scope.”
- In California, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 became law. “The law, which takes effect in 2020, gives consumers sweeping control over their personal data.“
Public Interest Funding
- The University of South Carolina School of Law received a second gift of more than $1 million from the Kondurous Fisherman Fund. The gift will build on programs established by the fund’s previous gift, including scholarships and summer internships for students aspiring to work in public service through governmental and non-profit agencies.
Criminal Justice Reform
- In Suffolk County, MA, “[a]t a forum described as the first-of-its kind in the country…[c]andidates hoping to lead the largest prosecutor’s office in Massachusetts field questions from…inmates at a Boston jail.“