PSJD Public Interest News Digest – March 13, 2020
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Hello there, interested public! We have a theme this week. There’s news I don’t need to share with you all currently affecting every corner of our society–including the topics we cover together in this Digest. (For those of you who are interested, you can find NALP’s statement concerning COVID-19 here.) Here’s how COVID-19 is playing out in the Public Interest Legal world:
Some courts have begun suspending in-person operations. Some public defenders’ offices have begun calling for the release of pretrial detainees and vulnerable members of our incarcerated population. Some cities have begun placing moratoria on eviction proceedings and water utility shutoffs. It is not clear yet how federal immigration policy will affect public health in this moment. After the Fed announced plans to “pump in up to $1.5 trillion into the financial system in an effort to combat potential freezes brought on by the coronavirus,” some politicians on both sides of the aisle have begun asking whether other stimulus options, such as student loan debt relief, should also be considered.
Stay well,
Sam
Immigration, Refugee & Citizenship Issues
- “Hundreds of advocates across the U.S. are pressing the Trump administration to not allow the coronavirus response to trigger immigration enforcement…In [an open letter to Vice President Pence], the group presses the government to deem hospitals as ‘enforcement-free zones,’ similarly to immigration officials’ position during hurricanes and other major emergencies…Though neither the White House nor the Department of Homeland Security has commented on whether it will officially declare healthcare facilities enforcement-free zones amid the outbreak, ICE told the Miami Herald on Tuesday that[, ] ‘Coronavirus is not considered an exigent circumstance, and individuals seeking medical treatment for the virus should continue to do so without fear or hesitation[.]’”
Student Loans & Student Debt
- In Washington DC, “OPM has told agencies to report on their calendar year 2019 use of student loan reimbursements, one authority agencies can use to attract and keep employees in high-demand occupations.”
- Also in Washington DC, after “coronavirus fears sent markets into free fall, leading to the worst day in the stock market since 1987. In response to the dip, the Federal Reserve announced that it would be injecting more around $1.5 trillion in the market to help smooth short-term funding markets. Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, questioned why the Fed was ready to aid the markets but not Americans struggling with student debt. She tweeted, “FYI, the amount that the Fed just injected almost covers all student loan debt in the US. There is absolutely NO excuse for not pausing student debt collections, planning for mortgage &rent relief, etc. We need to care for working people as much as we care for the stock market.”
Legal Technology
- Here on the Internet, Pro Bono Net published its Remote Legal Support Guide: A Best Practices Manual for Nonprofit and Pro Bono Innovation.
Non-Profit & Gov’t Management & Hiring
Rule of Law
Access to Justice – Civil & Economic
- In Tennessee, “the Chief Justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court…declar[ed] a state of emergency for the Judicial Branch of Tennessee government” the court has suspended “[a]ll in-person proceedings in all state and local courts in Tennessee…subject to exceptions[.]”
- In Kentucky, ,”[m]ost in-person court proceedings…have been suspended due to the state’s ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.”
- Across the U.S., “[i]n hopes of avoiding mass evictions in the coming weeks and months, tenant advocate groups and city council members nationwide are pushing for moratoriums on evictions in hopes of limiting the economic damage. If the coronavirus leads to evictions on a massive scale, the fallout could end up being one of the most consequential effects of the virus’s spread.”
- In Oakland CA, “[m]ore than a dozen activists and tenant rights attorneys lined up to demand the city protect unhoused residents and low-income renters who may miss work and paychecks because of coronavirus fallout. They asked the City Council to halt eviction lawsuits in Alameda County courts, forbid landlords from pushing out tenants who can’t pay rent due to a coronavirus-related loss of income, and to stop closing homeless encampments in the city.”
- In New York State, “lawmakers have introduced legislation to enact a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures during New York’s coronavirus outbreak. State Senators Brad Hoylman and Brian Kavanagh announced the bill on Thursday, echoing the economic concerns raised by a growing coalition of housing advocates and elected officials.”
- In Boston MA, “Local officials and housing advocates are demanding a halt to the housing court’s ‘eviction machine’ in an effort to protect vulnerable residents from exposure as coronavirus spreads throughout the city.”
- In Atlanta GA, “To make sure everyone has access to water over the next two months, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms issued an administrative order to halt water service termination for any Watershed Management customer due to non-payment.”
Access to Justice – Criminal
- In the Eastern District of Virgnia, the court continued “all misdemeanor, traffic, and petty offense dockets scheduled in all Divisions…from March 16, 2020, through April 30, 2020[.]”
Criminal Justice Reform
- In New York NY, The Legal Aid Society, Brooklyn Defender Services, The Bronx Defenders, New York County Defender Services, and The Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem called for “Immediate Release of Vulnerable Incarcerated New Yorkers in Response to Coronavirus”.
- Also in New York, after “Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that prison inmates are producing 100,000 gallons of hand sanitizer in response to price-gouging retailers[,… p]rison advocates call[ed] out the governor and the state’s correctional department for subjecting the prioners to work that equates to ‘slave labor.’”
- In the U.S., “some public health officials…are proposing [] large-scale [prisoner] releases, like those already underway in Iran. There, officials approved the temporary release of more than 54,000 prisoners in an effort to combat the spread of the new virus.”
- In San Francisco CA, “in an effort to limit the spread of the coronavirus, the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office will begin filing motions to seek the immediate release of all clients being held pre-trial in San Francisco county jails who are at heightened risk of illness from the virus.”
- In New Orleans LA, “the Orleans Parish Public Defenders [asked] the Criminal District Court to immediately release from jail people being held on non-violent offenses and ensure inmates and detainees are safe.”
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Email from a public defender
“I visited two in-custody clients today.
Both learned about the virus and recent local cases from TV news. Neither received any information about the virus from anyone at the jail. No additional soap for handwashing. No PSAs. No literature. Nothing.”— Radley Balko (@radleybalko) March 12, 2020
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Talked to two different clients to in custody today. They’re scared. The people they’re with are scared. They’re vulnerable and they’re the last people anyone will try to help and they know it.
— OneMileContainmentHat (@Popehat) March 13, 2020
- (Ken Whitem, Brown White & Osborn LLP)