PSJD Public Interest News Digest – February 19, 2021
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Hello, interested public! I wish you all the best, here on the tail end of yet another wild week. As has become the norm, there are many stories below all of which would dominate the week’s news in another era. In the US, the President rejected calls for unilateral student debt relief from Democrats in Congress and some state attorneys general and drew sharp criticism from the ACLU for a new DHS policy memo that the ACLU says reneges on his commitment to “to fully break from the harmful deportation policies of both the Trump and Obama presidencies.” At the local government level, you will find two stories related to counter-reform efforts aimed at limiting the scope of the progressive prosecution moment. In Canada, at both the national and provincial level bar associations and governments are making plans for improving the justice system, drawing on lessons learned from the pandemic.
Take care of one another,
Sam
Editor’s Choices
- In the United States, Vice.com published an article examining a developing debate around how public defenders engage with social media: “Public defenders had blogged about their work as long as a decade ago, and tweeting about arraignments wasn’t new, but [as] it’s grown, however, criminal justice reform advocates and formerly incarcerated people have started to argue that these posts can put clients at risk of retaliation from judges and prosecutors, violate their privacy, and present ethical quandaries for public defenders talking so openly about their work on Twitter. The optics of white public defenders gaining likes or retweets on stories of Black and brown suffering has also been called into question. As advocacy efforts morph from live-tweets to slick video productions, and gain traction with a public increasingly likely to support justice reform, the question has become: who should be telling the story?”
- In Canada, the CBA published a profile of Aimée Craft, of two CBA President’s Award recipients in 2021. Professor Craft, discussed her work “dismantling the colonial history of law[.]” : “Indigenous law is not simply adding a splash of ‘Indigenous flavour’ into the Canadian legal system. ‘It’s actually more profound in that it questions the foundations of how we make decisions. Indigenous peoples have been excluded from this sphere of decision-making for a very long time.’ ”
Transition of Power
- In Washington DC, “[n]early 5,000 National Guard troops will remain in Washington through March 12 due, in part, to concerns about potential violence stemming from online chatter among QAnon supporters who suggest former President Donald Trump could still be inaugurated on March 4, according to the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee.”
- Also in Washington DC, “[w]ith the NAACP as counsel, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) [] sued the former president, his lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani, the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, accusing them of conspiring to stage the Capitol insurrection and violating a law known as the Ku Klux Klan Act. The complaint explains that the law, enacted in 1871, ‘was intended to protect against conspiracies, through violence and intimidation, that sought to prevent Members of Congress from discharging their official duties. The statute was enacted in response to violence and intimidation in which the Ku Klux Klan and other organizations were engaged during that time period.’”
- In Fulton County GA, “[a] Georgia prosecutor plans to examine a phone call between U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham and Georgia’s secretary of state as part of a criminal investigation into whether former President Donald Trump or his allies broke state law in trying to influence the results of the election, the Washington Post reported on Friday.”
Legal Ethics
Environmental Justice & Environmental Collapse
- In Harris County TX, “County Attorney Christian D. Menefee is urging the public to report incidents of price gouging and other consumer complaints committed by those looking to take advantage of the tragedy[.]”
- In Washington DC, “As part of the grant-making associated with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Infrastructure for Rebuilding America program, the agency will for the first time carve out some of that program’s $889 million budget for projects addressing climate change and environmental justice.”
- In Nottingham NH, “residents [this] town of less than 5,000 people, have backed an unusual law to protect the drinking water they pull from their wells. The Freedom from Chemical Trespass Rights-Based Ordinance, which voters passed in 2019, gives the streams, rivers, and tributaries that flow into Nottingham’s drinking water supply—along with all other ecosystems ‘and natural communities’—their own legal personhood. The ordinance was overturned last week, however, after a Rockingham County Superior Court judge ruled it was vague and unenforceable. But ‘rights of nature’ ordinances like this are actually part of a burgeoning trend in environmental law, and offer a relatively new way to think about protecting natural resources.”
Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Issues
- In Washington DC, “[t]he Department of Homeland Security issued a memo on interior enforcement [] that outlines government policy that will apply during the next 90 days and addresses the scope of who DHS considers a priority for deportation and interior immigration enforcement.” In a statement, the ACLU called the memo “a disappointing step backward from the Biden administration’s earlier commitments to fully break from the harmful deportation policies of both the Trump and Obama presidencies…it has chosen to continue giving ICE officers significant discretion to conduct operations that harm our communities and tear families apart.”
- Also in Washington DC, “[m]embers of the Congressional Black Caucus are calling on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to put an end to ‘mass deportations’ they say are being carried out in a flagrant breach of orders imposed by the Biden administration.”
- Again also in Washington DC, “the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) released a letter to [newly confirmed DHS Secretary Alejandro] Mayorkas concerning alarming reports that there was an uptick in deportations before his confirmation, which may mean immigrants were not afforded due process in the rush to get them out of the country.”
- In California, “[t]he ABA’s immigration project in Texas has joined a lawsuit alleging that unaccompanied children affected by the Trump administration’s remain-in-Mexico program are being denied basic legal rights…The amended lawsuit, filed in federal court in California,[] says some of the children sent to Mexico under the policy have entered the United States on their own, yet they are denied legal protections given to other unaccompanied children.”
Student Loans & Student Debt
- In Washington DC, “President Biden is facing intense backlash from progressive lawmakers after saying Tuesday he would not sign a measure to forgive up to $50,000 in federally held student debt per borrower through executive action.”
- Relatedly, “[a] multi-state group of attorneys general on Friday sent a letter to Congress urging the adoption of two resolutions that call on President Biden to cancel up to $50,000 in federal student loan debt.”
- Finally, “President Joe Biden will ask the Department of Justice to review his legal authority to cancel student loan debt, the White House said on Wednesday, adding the president does not favor $50,000 in student loan relief without limitation.”
- Relatedly, NBC News reported that “Black voters want student loan debt eliminated altogether. And without substantive action, a sizable chunk of Black voters may consider stay home during the next election, according to a new…national poll shared exclusively with NBC News[.]”
Non-Profit & Gov’t Management & Hiring
- In New York NY, “[a] group of public defenders and social workers seeking to unionize their nonprofit legal organization got a boost from several local elected officials who joined them for a rally Wednesday…State Sens. Michael Gianaris and Jessica Ramos, Assemblymembers Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas and Zohran Mamdani, and Councilmembers Brad Lander and Jimmy Van Bramer called on Queens Defenders administration to bring back the two terminated staffers and voluntarily recognize the union.”
- In Washington DC, “[a] task force created by President Biden to create a safer workspace for federal employees during the COVID-19 pandemic has issued its first set of guidelines, telling agencies to punish those who refuse to wear masks and provide leave for employees to get vaccinated.”
- Also in Washington DC, “[t]he agency tasked with protecting federal employees who blow the whistle on wrongdoing is faulting an appeals board for creating a new standard those workers must clear to prove their case.”
- Also also in Washington DC, Dave Uejio, the Acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, issued an open call for attorneys to join the agency he leads, including “Our work will be most effective when we are able to incorporate a broad range of perspectives. We are, therefore, particularly interested in hearing from a diverse set of candidates with a range of personal and professional experiences.”
Access to Justice – Civil & Economic
- In Canada, “a Canadian Bar Association task force said in a report released at its annual general meeting [that a] significant investment in technology and training in the correct use of that technology, funded by government, are both needed to improve access to justice[.]”
- In Washington DC, “Joe Biden met with a group of mayors and governors last week [and] bluntly told them to get ready for a legislative defeat: his proposed minimum wage hike was unlikely to happen, he said, at least in the near term…The comments…suggest that the president is more inclined to manage the fallout of it not being included than to pursue long-shot, political-capital consuming efforts to fight for its insertion.”
- Also in Washington DC, “[w]ith the backing of civil rights organizations, labor unions, and economic experts, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley on Thursday morning unveiled a jobs guarantee resolution demanding that ‘meaningful, dignified work’ at a livable wage be made an enforceable legal right in the United States.”
- Georgia Public Broadcasting reported on how “[after] the pandemic struck and the SSA closed their 1,200 field offices across the country[,]…the number of monthly SSI applications and new benefit awardees has declined sharply. New data show that the number of new SSI awards given in January was the lowest on record — but it wasn’t because there were fewer people in need of the benefits.”
- In Ithaca NY, “city government, Cornell Law School and the Ithaca Tenants Union are collaborating to assist those facing eviction, as national [sic] economic crisis has left renters vulnerable. A new tenant housing hotline created by Ithaca Tenants Union, a practicum law class — where law students can provide cost-free legal advice or assistance to tenants while earning credit for their work — along with monetary assistance from a grant are being used to support renters through emergency rental assistance and legal resources.”
- In Olympia WA, the Washington State Senate debated “[a]n extension of an eviction moratorium for another two years and free attorneys for tenants who face eviction[, ] proposed in a new bill that landlords say would decimate their industry.”
- In New York NY, “[f]ewer than 2,300 New York City households have filed paperwork to delay eviction proceedings, with a Feb. 26 deadline looming.”
- In Princeton NJ, as “one study has found that evictions may have caused thousands of additional deaths because of displaced families catching or spreading COVID-19[,] The Eviction Lab at Princeton University…has tracked nearly 250,000 eviction filings since mid-March. The CDC order is preventing many of those people from losing their homes. But many others are being evicted regardless.
- In Maine, “[t]he office that oversees legal services for Maine’s poor is asking for more employees to fix a myriad of financial and constitutional problems identified by watchdog groups.”
- In British Columbia, “[t]he CBA-BC [released] Agenda for Justice 2021, a roadmap for action to improve the province’s justice system and modernize provincial legislation to ease access to justice for families, businesses and communities. It‘s been through the year-long pandemic that glaring needs for change, many of them technological, have been spotlighted.”
- In Ontario, “[t]he Ministry of the Attorney General is working with justice partners to move more justice services online and closer to communities through breakthrough modernization initiatives [via t]he proposed Accelerating Access to Justice Act, 2021.”
- Also in Ontario, the provincial government “introduced legislation Tuesday that would cement changes to how provincial judges are appointed, part of several reforms it said aim to increase access to justice.”
Access to Justice – Criminal
- In Southern CA, “[a]s courthouses across Southern California begin to resume jury trials to tackle a backlog of criminal cases, public defenders are pushing state and county health officials to move them up the priority list for coronavirus vaccines. Since December, public defenders in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, Santa Clara and San Luis Obispo counties, among others, have banded together and sent letters to Mark Ghaly, secretary of the state Health and Human Services Agency, pleading to be included on the same priority tier as jail inmates for COVID-19 inoculation. Thus far, they say, their requests have fallen on deaf ears.”
- In Buffalo NY, “some 145 people saw their misdemeanor charges dismissed in Buffalo City Court before the evidence against them was even introduced. Prosecutors ran out of time to comply with laws guaranteeing the right to a speedy trial.”
Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform
- In Los Angeles CA, “[t]he progress that newly elected Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón was elected to make is facing obstacles, including a lawsuit filed by his own prosecutors.” The piece (available as audio or a transcript) paints a vivid picture of how the progressive prosecution movement is changing the way law enforcement operates in California: “in Northern California where the DA felt that [Gascón] was not going to be appropriately punitive in his recommendations for how the charges went…she simply decided to take back jurisdiction of that case to ensure that it was prosecuted in the way that she felt comfortable with. And it’s interesting, you are seeing DAs for the first time that I’ve ever heard of in California, uh, having that conversation amongst themselves and amongst law enforcements about which jurisdiction when there is an option they want to file in[.]”
- In Okanogan County WA, former DA Arian Noma, “who [had] vowed to stop the over-prosecution of crimes and seek bail only when necessary” but resigned halfway through is term, “[spoke] publicly for the first time since his resignation [about how] he believes the online harassment campaign [which contributed to his decision to resign] had help from law enforcement and county colleagues, including people within his own office.”
- In Washington DC, “[c]ivil rights groups are pushing the Biden administration to take a stand against facial recognition technology, arguing the rapidly spreading software poses “profound and unprecedented threats” to Americans’ freedom and way of life. The American Civil Liberties Union and more than 40 other groups urged President Biden in a letter Tuesday to freeze federal use of facial recognition and block federal funds from being used by state and local governments to buy or access the artificial-intelligence tools.”
- In Oakland County MI, “[n]ew Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said Tuesday her office has taken steps that give the chance for nearly two-dozen “juvenile lifers” to get parole. According to McDonald, the prosecutor’s office has filed motions for re-sentencing of 22 cases, after reviewing 27 county-based juvenile lifer cases.”
- In Queens NY, DA Melinda Katz gave a video interview on her efforts to tackle criminal justice reform.