Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello, interested public!

It’s been awhile. I’ll level with you about why. This digest has always taken a substantial amount of time and effort to produce–and over the last year other responsibilities of mine have taken significantly more time and effort than they used to, as we’ve all had to adapt to drastic social changes. Additionally, public interest news continues to be densely-packed difficult to absorb and synthesize. Today, for example, I delayed this newsletter in order to get the text of President Biden’s Executive Order regarding abortion rights.

But I realize that the digest also gives us a jumping-off point for shared conversations as a community. So as we begin another academic year I am going to work to bring it back as a regular feature. Even if I get it out a bit late, and you end up reading it on Monday morning rather than Friday afternoon.

Take care of one another,

Sam

Editor’s Choice

• In Washington DC, “[a]mid mounting pressure to take action in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, President Joe Biden signed an executive order Friday aimed at protecting access to abortions.” Among other mitigation efforts, “[t]he White House counsel and attorney general will…bring together a group of private attorneys to work on a pro bono basis for people providing or seeking an abortion who face legal battles.”

  The relevant portion of the executive order reads:

  “To promote access to reproductive healthcare services, the Attorney General and the Counsel to the President shall convene a meeting of private pro bono attorneys, bar associations, and public interest organizations in order to encourage lawyers to represent and assist patients, providers, and third parties lawfully seeking these services throughout the country.”

• Meanwhile, in Kentucky, rather than working to help people navigate new restrictions, “[a]ttorneys from around the state and outside of the commonwealth are working together to provide pro bono services to providers in case they do face criminal charges for operating a procedure which had been federally protected for nearly 50 years before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last week.”

Rule of Law

• In Washington DC, “a prominent Capitol Hill religious leader was caught on a hot mic making a bombshell claim: that she prays with sitting justices inside the high court. ‘We’re the only people who do that,’ Peggy Nienaber said. This disclosure was a serious matter on its own terms, but it also suggested a major conflict of interest. Nienaber’s ministry’s umbrella organization, Liberty Counsel, frequently brings lawsuits before the Supreme Court.”
• Also in Washington DC, “[t]he US Supreme Court since August has issued more emergency orders than opinions in cases that got fully briefed and argued despite several justices expressing misgivings about the practice. The most conservative justices signaled they wanted to use what’s known as the shadow docket even more aggressively.”
• In Pennsylvania, “[a] legal advocacy group formed in hopes of disbarring and disciplining lawyers who aided Donald Trump’s push to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election filed complaints…with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court against seven lawyers in the state for their involvement in the former president’s legal efforts.”

Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Issues

• In Texas, “[t]he Department of Justice is investigating alleged civil rights violations under Operation Lone Star, a multibillion-dollar border initiative announced last year by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, according to state records obtained by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune.”
• Also in Texas, “Governor Greg Abbott…issued an executive order authorizing and empowering the Texas National Guard and the Texas Department of Public Safety to apprehend illegal immigrants who illegally cross the border between ports of entry and return them to the border.” The New York Times noted that the order “calls for state authorities to take on an immigration role that is typically the purview of the federal government.”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In Washington DC, the Department of Education “unveiled a package of proposed regulations aimed at improving the process of applying for a range of programs to forgive debt from educational loans, including the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program[.]” (More coverage available from Inside HigherEd.)
  • Meanwhile, a recent survey by intelligent.com suggested that “Biden’s student loan pledge encouraged 86% of recent borrowers to take on debt[.]”
• In the United States, “[a] narrow majority of Americans, 55%, said they support forgiving up to $10,000 in federal student loan debt, according to a recent poll from NPR/Ipsos.”
• The Center for Responsible Lending released a report: “Stories of the Impact of COVID-19 on Women’s Finances and Their Capacity to Repay Student Loans”.
• A new Bankrate survey found that “[r]oughly 60 percent of U.S. adults who have held student loan debt have put off making important financial decisions due to that debt, according to a new Bankrate survey. For Gen Z and millennial borrowers alone, that number rises to 70 percent. Student loans have prevented these borrowers from saving for retirement or emergencies, buying a home, or paying off other debt, like credit cards.”

Non-Profit & Gov’t Management & Hiring

• In the United States, “[t]ens of thousands of federal employees could soon receive payments for damages suffered during the 2018 shutdown after a court heard arguments on Wednesday that the government violated federal law when it failed to deliver paychecks on time to its workers.”
• In Washington DC, “Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) introduced a bill yesterday to provide the District of Columbia Courts and the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia with the same authority that federal courts and federal agencies have to offer voluntary separation incentive payments, or buyouts, to their employees.”
• Also in Washington DC, “George Washington University rejected calls to remove Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas from its law school faculty by students and others frustrated over the judge’s vote to overturn Roe v. Wade and his urging to reconsider other landmark civil rights cases.”
• In Montgomery AL, “[a]fter more than a year and a half of negotiations, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has reached a tentative collective bargaining agreement with the SPLC staff.”
• The Brookings Institute released a report finding that “[n]onprofit organizations are indispensable partners for the public sector to maximize federal dollars and leverage funds for inclusive, systemic change. Yet, to make the most of today’s historic investment opportunities, cities and nonprofits must overcome two preexisting conditions that could hinder such an approach: functionality and equity.”

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In Mississippi, “[a] judge has denied a motion from Mississippi’s only abortion clinic to allow it to remain open by blocking a law that would ban most abortions in the state. The Jackson Women’s Health Organization had sought a temporary restraining order that would allow it to remain open, at least while the lawsuit remains in court.”
• In the United States, the US Postal Service announced it “will not proactively help states enforce laws prohibiting the use of abortion pills in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, despite many legislatures vowing to crack down on the practice.”
• In Canada, “[t]he federal government says it is examining whether there is a legal risk to health-care workers who provide abortions in this country for visiting Americans.”
• In New York, “[a]n amendment to the New York State Human Rights Law is set to go into effect on July 14, 2022. The new law directs the New York State Division of Human Rights (Division) to operate a toll-free confidential hotline, during regular business hours, which will provide counsel and assistance to individuals with complaints of workplace sexual harassment.”
• In Oklahoma City OK, “[e]victions in Oklahoma City are rising as rent help is running out[.]”
• In Wisconsin, “voters will no longer be allowed to cast their absentee ballots via remote drop boxes, as the state’s highest judicial body ruled Friday they are not permitted under state law.”
• In New Mexico, “[a] lawyer overseeing a slew of damage claims from the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon fire said the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s aid process needs an overhaul.”
• In Illinois, “Governor J.B. Pritzker has signed into law the “Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair” Act, or CROWN Act, which prohibits hair discrimination.”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In the United States, “[m]ost judges and lawyers seem to agree that they expect courts to continue to leverage remote technology in some capacity after the pandemic subsides. When it comes to criminal proceedings, however, that consensus starts to shatter.”
• In Oregon, “[t]he patience of Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice Martha Walters seems to be growing thin as the state continues to violate the constitutional rights of criminal defendants charged with crimes who cannot afford an attorney. ‘Hundreds who are constitutionally entitled to counsel are being denied that right, and no end is in sight,’ Walters wrote in a letter sent July 1 to the eight commissioners who oversee the state’s public defense agency.”
• Also in Oregon, “Oregon’s federal public defender says dozens of people inside the state’s only federal prison have been on a hunger strike protesting conditions inside the facility.”
• In Santa Cruz County CA, “residents criminally charged and in need of a lawyer can now seek public defense services, as the county opened its first Public Defender’s Office[.]”
• In Branch County MI, “[t]wo new full-time positions in the Public Defenders Office which are being funded by the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission were brought forward by the Branch County Board of Commissioners[.]”
• In Baton Rouge LA, “the NAACP Baton Rouge chapter published a four-page letter speaking against East Baton Rouge Parish Chief Public Defender Lisa Parker…NAACP alleges that 30 employees have left the office since Parker was appointed in July 2021.” In response, “Parker’s spokesperson confirms that 17 attorneys have resigned since Parker took over. A statement from Parker’s office said those attorney positions have since been filled and since Parker took over no cases have been dropped, overlooked or neglected.”
• In Georgia, “Sen. Jon Ossoff is launching a new effort to strengthen public defender programs in state and local courts.”
• In the United States, “[s]hortly after the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Shinn v. Ramirez, the ABA Death Penalty Representation Project put out a call for more pro bono attorneys to help represent people on death row.”

Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform

• In San Francisco CA, “San Francisco’s Mayor London Breed has made a controversial pick to replace former progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin, after a recall which garnered major national attention — prosecutor and critic Brooke Jenkins…those who opposed the recall of Boudin say this pick reflects a turn from progressive criminal justice policies for San Francisco. Jenkins, a Black Latina, described herself as a “progressive prosecutor” but criticized Boudin for his policies in the interest of criminal justice reform….Recall opponents like former police commissioner John Hamasaki called this ‘an unfortunate pick for San Francisco.’[:] ‘Ms. Jenkins is somebody who has consistently demonstrated poor judgment, a lack of ethics and a desire to return to unfortunately racist and tough on crime policies,’ he said in a phone interview. He said Jenkins was not Breed’s first pick but is supported by the police union and some backers of the recall.”
• In Los Angeles County CA, the “district attorney may face a vote in November — two years before his term ends — as the campaign to recall him said it submitted enough signatures to qualify for the ballot.”
• In Maricopa County AZ, “a prosecutor involved in charging 2020 protesters with gang charges, will appeal a June 28 decision by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office to officially fire her[.]”

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello, interested public! Big stories this week coming out of student debt land, with tension between leadership in the US Senate and the US House of Representatives over the desirability of student loan debt forgiveness and new efforts by the Department of Education to reach out to borrowers relying on the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Additionally, the Biden Administration announced plans to begin speeding up deportations for some migrant families crossing the US-Mexico border.

These stories and more are in the links below.

Take care of one another,

Sam

Rule of Law

• In Salt Lake County UT, “[t]he district attorney…declined to file criminal charges against a Utah police officer who said, ‘You’re about to die, my friend,’ seconds before fatally shooting a man[, ] saying West Valley City Sgt. Tyler Longman acted within the confines of the law when he shot and killed Michael Chad Breinholt in August 2019. Gill said under the current state law, Longman’s use of force was justified, but he called video of the shooting ‘disturbing.’”

Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Issues

• In Washington DC, “[t]he Biden administration is planning to speed up deportations for some migrant families who cross the US-Mexico border, the Department of Homeland Security said[.]”
• In Essex County NY, “[i]n what many see as a retaliatory act [in response to protests by detainees and advocates against ICE’s use of Essex County Jail], ICE is transferring the people detained at Essex rather than releasing them.”
• In the United States, “[a] ProPublica survey of more than a dozen lawyers across the country…along with documents circulated by several local ICE offices, shows that implementation of [the Biden Administration’s immigration prosecution] guidance has been spotty, with many prosecutors proceeding with exactly the sorts of deportation cases the new rules are intended to prevent.”
• In Texas, “[although] resident Joe Biden promised, if elected, his government would withdraw the lawsuits aimed at taking land for border wall construction. Six months into his administration that hasn’t happened. In fact, dozens of lawsuits are still being litigated, according to the Department of Justice and the pro-bono attorneys representing some of the landowners.”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In Washington DC, “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi [] rejected efforts by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and other progressives to persuade President Joe Biden to unilaterally cancel large amounts of student loan debt, exacerbating a growing rift in the Democratic Party over the issue.”
• Also in Washington DC, “the Education Department launched a public inquiry to fix the [Public Service Loan Forgiveness] program…Starting next week, anyone can submit comments to the department regarding PSLF, and the department specifically wants to know[.]”
• In the United States, “[s]everal collegiate institutions throughout the country are leading efforts to help eliminate student debt[.]”
• Forbes discussed “new research from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget [that asserts] both total student loan cancellation and partial student loan cancellation will have a minimal effect on the economy.”

Non-Profit & Gov’t Management & Hiring

• In Washington DC, “[t]he Office of Personnel Management issued new guidance [] about telework and other considerations as federal agencies work to implement their office reentry and post reentry plans that were due earlier this week.”

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In Minnesota, “a first-of-its-kind fleet of mobile legal clinics have found their way across [the state] with a launch from the State Capitol.”
• In Arkansas, “[t]hanks to a lawsuit by Legal Aid of Arkansas, Pulaski Circuit Judge Herb Wright has issued an injunction to force the governor and the Division of Workforce Services to resume participation in two pandemic unemployment programs, one paying an extra $300 a week. Hutchinson ordered the payments to stop at the end of June, 10 weeks early, claiming it would force people to go back to work.”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Knox County IN, “[m]embers of the Public Defender Board later this year will submit to county officials its leanest annual budget yet.”
• In Washington County AR, “justices of the peace [] heard a request to increase the pay for public defenders to the same level as those in the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.”

Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform

• In Chicago IL, “[c]ommunity groups [] urged the city of Chicago to end its use of the ShotSpotter gunshot detection system when the contract expires next month.”
• In Yolo County CA, “Yolo County was recently selected to be one of nine counties to receive funding for the California County Resentencing Pilot Project.”
• In Oakland CA, “Los Angeles progressive District Attorney George Gascón, and Christine Soto Deberry, the founder and Executive Director of the Prosecutor’s Alliance—an organization for reform-oriented prosecutors and other law enforcement—met on a panel sponsored by Impact Justice to discuss how progressive prosecutors navigate the pushback they face from police unions who try to stifle reform.”
  

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello, interested public! Big stories this week include further coverage of the fallout from FedLoan’s decision to withdraw from the business of collecting on student debt–and the news that another loan servicer has also decided to pull up stakes. Meanwhile, in Washington DC the House of Representatives is working to increase funding for the Legal Services Corporation and to reinstate the Dept. of Justice’s Office for Access to Justice while in California, groups are pressuring the state Supreme Court to consider expanding the right to counsel to include adults entangled in probate conservatorships. And the July 31st end of the federal eviction moratorium is slouching over the horizon.

These stories and more are in the links below.

Take care of one another,

Sam

Rule of Law

• In Washington DC, “[t]he Justice Department has declined to prosecute former Trump administration officials, including former Commerce Department Secretary Wilbur Ross, after an inspector general confirmed they provided false testimony regarding the origins of the proposed citizenship question on the 2020 census.”

Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Issues

• In Houston TX, “[a] federal judge [] ruled that an Obama administration program protecting undocumented immigrants who were brought into the United States as children is illegal and halted accepting any new applications for the program.”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• The College Investor speculated that “a few factors [] point towards [] a strong possibility…there might be a fourth [student loan] payment pause and interest waiver extension.”
• In South Carolina, “[l]eaders at South Carolina State University [] announced it would be forgiving $9.8 million in student debts using $4 million in CARES Act funding and $5.8 million it received from the American Rescue Plan. Most of those students, the university said, were continuing students who had not re-enrolled or had dropped out entirely due to debt.”
• In New York, “a federal appeals court has ruled [that p]rivately issued student loans may be discharged in bankruptcy[.]”
• In Pennsylvania, “FedLoan[‘s …decision] that it won’t seek an extension of a 12-year government contract to collect payments for millions of borrowers on a portfolio of federal education loans…has led to…concerns over what happens this fall when the huge federal loan-servicing apparatus starts collecting loan payments again.”
  • Meanwhile, “[l]ess than two weeks after a major student loan servicing shakeup, yet another U.S. Department of Education student loan servicer [Granite State Management and Resources] is calling it quits.”

Non-Profit & Gov’t Management & Hiring

• In Washington DC, “[a] House panel on Tuesday voted 24-16 along party lines to advance legislation that would provide federal employees with up to 12 weeks of paid family leave each year, over objections from Republicans about a last-minute report from the Congressional Budget Office.”
• Also in Washington DC, “the Supreme Court said [that] ‘[i]n light of the potential for actual or apparent conflicts of interest, Jessica Garland will not serve as a law clerk for Justice Kagan while Attorney General Garland remains in office.’”
  • For more on the controversy, see The Volokh Conspiracy.

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In Washington DC, “[t]he Legal Services Corporation could get an additional $135 million in its pockets, the largest single increase in the legal aid organization’s history, following an approval of funding legislation by the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations. The committee on Thursday approved funding legislation that includes $600 million for LSC in 2022 – a 29% increase from its current appropriation.”
• Also in Washington DC, “[a] powerful, bipartisan group in Congress is reviving a proposal to permanently restore the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office for Access To Justice, in a bid to codify the unit dedicated to legal representation for the poor that was shuttered by the Trump administration.”
• In California, “[t]he California Supreme Court was asked today to convene a blue-ribbon panel to review deficiencies in legal defense services provided to adults who become entangled in probate conservatorship proceedings. The request was submitted by Spectrum Institute and a variety of organizations involved in disability rights, elder care, and mental health services, along with a national coalition advancing the right to counsel.”
• In Milwaukee WI, “Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley signed the ‘Right to Counsel’ ordinance into law [] outside the County Courthouse, in an effort to assist local residents facing eviction or foreclosure.”
• In Texas, “[a] state eviction diversion program launched in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been extended, according to a new emergency order from the Texas Supreme Court[.] The diversion program was set to expire on July 27. The new order extends it until Oct. 1.”
• Across the United States, “[l]egal aid, housing advocacy groups and tenants — especially tenants — are bracing for the inevitable wave of eviction filings that will crash on the shores of courthouses throughout the U.S. at the end of the month, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s national eviction moratorium expires at midnight on July 31.”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Illinois, “[a] two-year study commissioned by the Illinois Supreme Court has found that people in many Illinois counties are being routinely processed through the criminal courts without the advice of an attorney.”
• In Utah, “[a] Salt Lake City Justice Court judge kayaks down the river with a flotilla of prosecutors, defense attorneys and judicial assistants. Social workers on bicycles are up ahead meeting people who are camped out along the banks…The social workers and public defense attorneys make contact with people experiencing homelessness, asking if they want help. Then they tell them the judge is right up the river, willing to take care of their legal troubles. They’ve got tablet computers and can pull up a name, check for warrants and other charges and resolve it right on the river.”
• In Harrison County WV, “[t]he staffing situation with the Harrison County Public Defender Corporation continues to percolate at problematic levels.”

Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform

• In Pennsylvania, “Gov. Tom Wolf joined lawmakers and law enforcement officials Friday to mark the launch of a police hiring database of misconduct records. The database was approved by the General Assembly in the wake of the May 2020 police killing of George Floyd.”
• In Maine, the state recently “bec[a]me the fourth state to abolish civil forfeiture.”
• In New York NY, “[t]wo watchdog groups sued the New York Police Department over the agency’s refusal to disclose public records about its acquisition of facial recognition technology and other surveillance tools.”
  

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello, interested public! Big stories this week include a piece on how the federal hiring process may hamstring the Biden Administration’s effort to rebuild the ranks of the EPA, a new development in an ongoing class action lawsuit by hundreds of current and former Black federal employees, and an analysis of the state of the law concerning the dischargeability of student loans in bankruptcy,

These stories and more are in the links below.

Take care of one another,

Sam

Editor’s Choice

• In Harlingen TX, an attorney with the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES) spoke frankly with local news about the mental health challenges of her position.

Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Issues

• The Brennan Center published an essay detailing “the dehumanizing work of immigration law[.]”
• Writing in Government Executive, Professors Daniel Braaten and Claire Nolasco Braaten described their research into the decisions of immigration judges, which “shows that…[p]olitical factors such as ideology, political party of the president who appointed them and who was president at the time they decided the case significantly influenced whether these children were allowed to stay in the country.”
• In the United States, “[i]mmigrant advocates, including Catholic organizations, launched a campaign [] to provide legal aid those who may need it, in case Congress, under the Biden administration, approves some type of reform. ‘Ready to Stay,’ the name of campaign by the national coalition of over 18 organizations, unveiled www.readytostay.org.”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In Washington DC, “[s]everal prominent Democratic lawmakers are asking the Education Department (ED) about student debt collection practices in the face of a potential wave of student loan defaults when the pandemic payment pause expires[.]”
• Forbes published a piece examining how “FedLoan Servicing’s abrupt departure from the Department of Education’s sprawling federal student loan system will likely be disruptive to millions of student loan borrowers…[especially as] FedLoan Servicing has been the primary servicer tasked with administering the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program.”
• In Massachusetts, “[a] a new team within Attorney General Maura Healey’s office is preparing for any confusion and questions borrowers might face after the [student debt] relief program ends.”
• In New York, “[a]n appeals court ruled that private student loans can be discharged through bankruptcy like other consumer debts, opening the door for more borrowers to obtain relief from educational debt.”
• In California, “a [new] law that went into effect this year [] gained teeth this month, with a new ombudsman’s office empowered to review complaints about student loan providers.”
• In Boston MA, WBUR “took a look at how [tension over the policy called ‘summer contribution’] has unfolded for some area law school students.”
• Law360 published an analysis of where legal authority stands after the US Supreme Court’s recent decision to deny certiorari in a case concerning whether student loans are dischargeable during bankruptcy.
• Business Insider published a profile of Astra Taylor, co-founder of the Debt Collective.

Pandemic in the Legal System

• In New York NY, “[t]he Association of Legal Aid Attorneys condemned the Office of Court Administration and the Department of Citywide Administrative Services for unsanitary and unhealthy conditions that they say are rife throughout city courthouses.”
• In Albuquerque NM, “[t]he district attorney’s office said fewer cases are making it to trial, partly because grand juries were suspended.”

Non-Profit & Gov’t Management & Hiring

• The Chronicle of Philanthropy reported that “new estimates from the Johns Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies…found that since June 2020, nearly 60 percent of nonprofit jobs that were eliminated due to the health and economic crisis have been restored.”
• In Washington DC, “[t]he legal team representing hundreds of current and former Black federal employees now part of a proposed multi-million-dollar class-action lawsuit against the federal government has filed a motion in federal court for the government to implement a $100-million mental health fund to address mental injuries and ongoing challenges faced by Black public service workers.”
• Also in Washington DC, “President Biden and congressional Democrats are…seek[ing] to reduce the number of law enforcement jobs at Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, where Trump had sought to add thousands of officers and agents. Instead, the fiscal 2022 DHS spending bill—approved by the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday—would augment the rolls at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Secret Service and other components.”
• Also also in Washington DC, “[t]he EPA has hired 500 new employees since President Joe Biden took office, helping to replenish its battered ranks, which stand at a 34-year low, the agency tells Bloomberg Law. Recruiting hundreds more, however, may not be as easy.”
• In New York NY, “[a] Legal Aid Society public defender who spoke out against city schools’ “anti-bias” training has sued her employer, saying her colleagues have unfairly labeled her a racist.”

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In Kansas, “[t]he Kansas Bar Foundation is awarding grants to organizations that assist low-income individuals that are at risk of losing their homes, as well as non-profits that support legal education and access to justice for those struggling financially. Applications for 2022 are now open for two of their annual programs.”
• In Washington DC, “[t]he Legal Services Corporation (LSC) launched the LSC Eviction Laws Database today in partnership with the Center for Public Health Law Research. The database is a new online tool that will aid users in better understanding the significant variation in eviction laws across the country and the effect these differences have on eviction outcomes.”
• In Alaska, the Executive Director of the Alaska Legal Services Corporation revealed that “[t]he governor’s veto of $400,000, 62% of our state appropriation, slashed it to its lowest point since 2010. This means that we will now turn away an additional 818 Alaskans who need our help.”
• In Minnesota, “, tenants, landlords, attorneys and judges are getting briefed on details of the new law [] that spells out rules for lease terminations and eviction court cases over the next 10 ½ months.”
• In Cleveland OH, “Right to Counsel shows promising early results for tenants, and some landlords[.]”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Maine, “[t]he number of lawyers taking cases under Maine’s system for providing legal defense to low-income people accused of crimes has plunged in recent months, leading some to worry that cases may not be covered if the trend continues.”
  • Meanwhile, “[a] prominent defense lawyer in Maine has asked to withdraw from nearly 200 court-appointed cases after the state’s public defense agency opened an investigation into her firm.”

Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform

• In Tuscon AZ, “Arizona residents can now file to have marijuana convictions removed from their records.”
• In Washington State, Crosscut explored “[t]he strange, failed fight to rein in civil forfeiture in Washington[.]”
• Also in Washington State, “[m]ore state and county prosecutors are reaching the [conclusion] that they need the power to request resentencing from judges to correct past injustices, end mass incarceration, give people second chances and divert money spent on incarceration to more effective crime prevention methods.”
• In Washington DC, “[f]ederal regulators are giving state prisons across the country more technological options to combat contraband cellphones, which prison officials have long said represent the greatest security threat behind bars.”
• Also in Washington DC, “[a] ​​Senate panel [] advanced President Joe Biden’s nominees to the Second and Tenth circuits and Washington state’s federal bench as Republicans questioned the philosophy and experience that public defenders would bring to appellate courts.”
• In Fairfax County VA, the county’s “top prosecutor will begin publishing data on prosecutions in an effort to identify and root out any racial and socioeconomic disparities in the local criminal justice system[.]”
  

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello, interested public! At the end of another week, a few key stories for you: Big student loan news this week in the United States, as the Biden Administration hired an outspoken proponent of student debt cancellation while a major student loan servicer announced its plans to shutter its business at the end of 2021. Meanwhile, Department of Treasury data shows almost none of the emergency rental aid funds allocated by Congress have been spent. In Canada, members of parliament called for a special prosecutor to address crimes against Indigenous people.

These stories and more are in the links below.

Take care of one another,

Sam

Editor’s Choice

• In Canada, “Nunavut’s member of Parliament [called] on the federal government to appoint a special prosecutor to delve into crimes committed against Indigenous people. Mumilaaq Qaqqaq sa[id] perpetrators of abuse at institutions such as residential schools and tuberculosis sanatoria need to be brought to justice:

  Indigenous people need truth and justice, not only about individual abusers…but about the hellhole of all genocidal residential school systems. We need a full and independent investigation that has the power to shine a light on every facet of this national crime and has the power to bring perpetrators to justice.”

  • Relatedly, “[a]t least three First Nations in Canada recently uncovered hundreds of unmarked graves of Indigenous children on the grounds of former ‘residential schools’ – government-founded, assimilation institutions that were run by various churches for more than 100 years.”

Free & Fair Elections; Rule of Law

• In Atlanta GA, “[a] federal judge declined to temporarily halt a new Georgia voting law that is being challenged in the courts, ruling that doing so would risk disrupting an upcoming runoff election.”
• In Boise ID, “[t]he Idaho Supreme Court heard arguments [] over a lawsuit by the nonprofit Reclaim Idaho against a new law that creates stricter rules for passing ballot initiatives.”
• In Washington DC, “[a] panel of former judges and legal scholars convened last year by the group Project on Government Oversight (POGO) released a report on Thursday detailing recommendations for how to restore public trust in the [U.S. Supreme] court, which has been shaped by partisan battles over confirmations in recent decades as conservatives solidified a 6-3 majority.” [Report available from the Project on Government Oversight.]

Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Issues

• In Washington DC, “the Biden administration announced Friday that it barred Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from detaining pregnant or nursing women, absent ‘exceptional circumstances.’”
• Also in Washington DC, “U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced the Interagency Strategy for Promoting Naturalization on Friday, following an executive order President Biden signed in February to strengthen the legal immigration system. The strategy was developed by eight federal departments and will launch new memoranda of understanding between USCIS and other agencies to promote outreach, education and awareness of pathways to citizenship.”
• In Syracuse NY, a report “from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University [ranked] North Carolina [] last in in the country for the likelihood of having legal representation in immigration cases[.]”
• In Fort Collins CO, “[t]he Fort Collins City Council passed ordinance No. 64 on second reading with a vote of 5-2 during a meeting on July 6, appropriating $150,000 from reserved funds to finance a pilot program for immigration legal defense.”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In Washington DC, “Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Patty Murray and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer led 20 of their Democratic colleagues in a letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, urging him to prioritize reforms to the student-debt system in his regulatory agenda.” [Letter available on the Senate website.]
  • Forbes reported specifically on the “5 main proposals” present in the Congressional letter.
• Also in Washington, “[t]he Biden administration has hired a vocal proponent of canceling student debt for a key post in the Education Department. The Education Department hired Toby Merrill to serve as deputy general counsel in the Office of the General Counsel, the agency said in a statement. Merrill founded and directed the Project on Predatory Student Lending at the Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School.”
• Also also in Washington, “[w]orking through a backlog of student debt relief claims, the Education Department said Friday it will cancel the loans of more than 1,800 people defrauded by defunct for-profit chains Westwood College, Marinello Schools of Beauty and the Court Reporting Institute.”
• In the United States, “[a] major student loan servicing shakeup is in the works as one of the Department of Education’s primary student loan services seeks to exit the business. The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Authority (PHEAA), which operates FedLoan Servicing, has informed its employees that it plans to end its federal student loan servicing activities when its contract with the Department ends this December.”
• The Center for Law and Social Policy argued that “[w]hile Black borrowers overall are burdened with high rates of student loan debt, Black women, in particular, see high rates of outstanding debt. A recent report identified that Black women carry about 20 percent more debt than white women [; and p]ursuing graduate studies deepens these disparities…Research indicates that cancelling even $50,000 in student debt would alleviate the debt burden for nearly 93 percent of the lowest-income Black households and also increase wealth by a third.”

Non-Profit & Gov’t Management & Hiring

• In Ohio, “[i]n a collaborative survey with the Ohio Supreme Court, the Ohio Access to Justice Foundation reports that 3,735 Ohio lawyers replied with information about their pro bono practices during 2020. Of the respondents, 2,102, or 56%, indicated they represented clients without receiving compensation…The 2020 survey shows 98,783 pro bono hours reported. Since the 2019 report, the average number of hours reported per attorney has increased by 24%.”
• Federal Computer Week reported that after “[t]he pandemic pushed over half of the federal workforce into telework. Disability rights advocates say maintaining more access to telework could make the federal workspace more accessible.”
• In Madison WI, “[t]he University of Wisconsin Law School may pare back some of its yearlong clinics in a change the school argues could increase student participation but some students fear would threaten the quality of their education and the work they do for clients.”
• Also in Madison, “[t]he Climate Defense Project, a nonprofit legal group, recently lodged a complaint with the state Attorney General’s Office and the Department of Financial Institutions (DFI) on behalf of nearly 200 [University of Wisconsin] students, faculty, alumni and community members.” The complaint “argue[s] that the university foundation’s investments in fossil fuel companies are [in violation of] a 2009 state law that stipulated nonprofit entities have a duty to invest in line with their charitable missions.”
• In Washington DC, “[t]he Office of Management and Budget has told the chief government watchdog it will not comply with several of its recommendations aimed at improving the performance and oversight of government, arguing the changes are unnecessary or that it had already addressed the concerns.”
• Also in Washington DC, “[t]he Environmental Protection Agency is reminding employees not to engage with members of the media, sending a memorandum this week instructing them to deflect any press inquiries. The guidance came after EPA Administrator Michael Regan earlier this year sent employees a memo of his own pledging to bring transparency to the agency and reinstate a ‘fishbowl’ environment.”

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In the United States, “[o]f the $25 billion [in emergency rental aid that the US Congress] appropriated in December, only $1.5 billion had been spent nationwide on rent, utilities and arrears between January and the end of May, according to figures released last week by the Treasury Department.” [Figures available from the US Dept. of the Treasury.]
• In Ohio, “[a]fter a lengthy interruption of the operations of its “Do It Yourself” (DIY) legal clinics, Southeastern Ohio Legal Services (SEOLS) will resume the monthly DIY presentation with the help of its long-time partner, Ironton-Lawrence Community Action Agency.”
• In Missouri, “[t]he Missouri Department of Labor is implementing a process for people who were overpaid federal unemployment benefits last year to apply to keep the money. During the height of the pandemic, the department mistakenly overpaid about 47,000 Missourians more than $150 million in mostly federal unemployment benefits. The move to offer waivers for about $108 million of federal money comes after months of pressure from lawmakers.”
• In Portland ME, “[a] Superior Court justice has upheld Portland’s new rent control ordinance despite a lawsuit brought by local landlords. The ordinance limits most rent increases to the rate of inflation, increases the amount of notice a landlord must provide when not renewing an at-will tenancy, and creates a Rent Board to enforce the ordinance and award additional rent increases when appropriate.”
• In Ontario, “[t]he Aboriginal Justice Strategy at Legal Aid Ontario has released the first part of its consultation report on its effectiveness in delivering legal aid services and initiatives to Indigenous clients in the province, including by offering 20 recommendations.”
• Also in Ontario, “Tribunals Ontario has launched an online tool to help empower users with “tailored information about their rights and responsibilities and the rules and processes at the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB).””
• In British Columia, “Legal Aid BC…expanded its partnership with Tyler [Technologies, Inc.]…expanding [its Family Resolution Centre] to cover child support issues, providing full support to separated parents through [Tyler’s] Modria [online dispute resolution] solution.”
• In New York NY, “[a] lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court [] alleges…Mayor de Blasio broke the law by rushing homeless, disabled New Yorkers out of hotel rooms for shelters without notice[.]”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Madison County IL, “[Madison County State’s Attorney] Haine asked [the County Board Judiciary Committee] for nine new attorneys while [Public Defender] Copeland requested three.”
• In Cole County MO, “the Public Defender’s Office…[has] new defenders [] coming thanks to state lawmakers earmarking $1 million to hire 15 new public defenders to eliminate some waiting lists for public defender services across the state.”
• In Alpena County MI, “A new law office[,…t]the Northeast Michigan Regional Defenders Office[,] has been busy preparing to help people in the region. The practice is led by former Presque Isle Prosecutor Rick Stieger as Chief Public Defender and Alpena native Julie Miller as Chief Deputy Defender.”
• In Camden NJ, “[t]he newly launched New Jersey Innocence Project, based at Rutgers University-Camden, will help exonerate wrongly convicted people.”
• The Ottawa Citizen published a column criticizing the Canadian Judicial Council’s decision last May to publish the Criminal Law Handbook for Self-represented Accused. The columnist, a Toronto defence lawyer, argued that “[a] growing number of accused want a lawyer but cannot afford one and do not qualify for legal aid. That is a serious problem that has to be rectified. I do not think the way to do so is by publishing a user manual that suggests an unrepresented accused can do an OK job playing lawyer.”

Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform

• In Ontario, a new report from the Law Commission of Ontario found that “[s]tatutory changes, prosecutorial guidelines and training programs are among the “urgently needed reforms” necessary to regulate the use of artificial-intelligence-driven DNA-analysis technology in the criminal justice system[.]”
• In Gwinnett County GA, “[a] recent partnership between the Gwinnett County district attorney and a restorative justice program aims to save taxpayer money and help reduce the impact of the criminal justice system on some first-time offenders…The DA’s office said the program will grant ‘second chances’ by enhancing the social, financial and civic knowledge of offenders.”
• In Maricopa County AZ, “[t]he American Civil Liberties Union filed a complaint against the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, alleging that prosecutors are misusing a pre-trial court process to get thousands to plead guilty without hearings or further evidence being disclosed.”
• In Charlottesville VA, “[t]he University of Virginia School of Law is launching an ambitious new project focused on criminal justice reform that will expand the scope of the school’s Center for Criminal Justice and build upon lessons learned from the Innocence Project at UVA Law.”

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello, interested public. Welcome to a new academic year. As readers affiliated with schools that subscribe to PSJD.org may be aware, we are beginning a new cycle for our public service platform. The past eighteen months have been hard for us all, and that hardship has worn on each of us differently. For me, this digest has been harder to produce. But as we begin our new cycle here I plan to begin releasing regular updates again, as I had been prior to the pandemic.

We’re diving back in with a jam-packed week of news. The US Supreme Court allowed a federal moratorium on evictions to remain in place, but at least one local court has ruled that this decision does not create a nationwide precedent. The debate over student loan debt forgiveness continues, with forgiveness advocates marshalling evidence that loan forgiveness will have a significant impact on the racial wealth gap. Meanwhile, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reported on debt servicers’ deceptive efforts to prevent borrowers from taking advantage of public service loan forgiveness and researchers revealed that the Department of Education seems more interested in collecting on debts owed by individual student borrowers than by educational institutions. The Biden Administration also made big news concerning government management and hiring with a new Executive Order concerning Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in the federal workforce.

As was our custom, these stories and more are in the links below.

Take care of one another,

Sam

Free & Fair Elections

• In Washington DC, “[a] divided U.S. Supreme Court, narrowing the scope of the Voting Rights Act, on Thursday upheld two Arizona voting laws challenged as racially discriminatory.”

Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Issues

• In New Jersey, the state government “is poised to become the second state in the nation after California to fund a statewide legal support program for unaccompanied minors. State lawmakers earmarked $3 million for legal representation and case management for immigrant youth in their $46 billion plan passed last week.”
• Also in New Jersey, “[t]he American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration[], seeking to block the transfer of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees at a New Jersey jail. The suit is the first legal challenge against a Biden administration immigration policy.”
• In the United States, “[a]ttorneys are still trying to reach the parents of 368 migrant children who had been separated at the US-Mexico border under the Trump administration, down from 391 last month, according to a federal court filing[.]”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In Washington DC, “Elizabeth Warren and John Kennedy said a student-loan servicer CEO may have given false testimony in April.”
• Also in Washington DC, “[m]ore than 60 Democratic lawmakers — led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) — called on President Joe Biden to extend a pause on student loan payments and interest so as not to ‘drag down the pace’ of the country’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic in a letter Wednesday.”
• Also again also in Washington DC, a resolution “unanimously approved by the [city] council [] call[ed] on President Biden to cancel student loan debt. Cities like Boston and Philadelphia have done the same.”
• Also also again also in Washington DC, “[t]he U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a case seeking to overturn a ruling establishing a presumption that private student loans cannot be eliminated in bankruptcy. The June 28 decision comes on the heels of the justices’ denial of another request to weigh in on student loans in bankruptcy.”
• Again also also again also in Washington DC, “[t]he Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) today issued a report highlighting legal violations identified by the Bureau’s examinations in 2020.” Among other issues, “CFPB examiners uncovered significant problems in how student loan servicers informed consumers about the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program…CFPB examiners found a number of ways that student loan servicers gave incorrect information to borrowers, resulting in missteps that could cost consumers thousands of dollars. For example, examiners found servicers misled consumers to believe they could not access PSLF if they had older loans under the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP), even though they could access PSLF by consolidating FFELP loans into Direct Loans.”
• NewsNation reported that “[j]ust around 5% of student loan borrowers who’ve applied for [public service loan forgiveness] as of April 30 have qualified, according to data from the U.S. Department of Education.”
• The National Student Legal Defense Network released a report detailing its “extensive investigation into whether the Department [of Education] has employed collections—comparable to those employed against individual borrowers or otherwise—against institutions with debt owed to the government.” The group asserts that “[w]While the Department aggressively attempts to collect from [individual] borrowers, institutions and their owners and executives walked away from more than a billion dollars owed to taxpayers.”
• At a panel discussion held by the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program, “[p]anelists discussed the disproportionate burden of student debt on low-income, minority, and Black student families,” asserting that “there is a direct relationship between student debt cancellation and minimizing the racial wealth gap.”
• In an opinion piece, the Times Higher Education argued that “while student loan forgiveness might be sexy, it’s not a sustainable solution [because a] one-time fix via executive order – which, theoretically, could be overturned by the next administration – fails both future students and taxpayers.”
• Forbes reported that “[a] new survey of 23,845 federal student loan borrowers shows that 90% aren’t prepared to pay student loans when Covid-19 pandemic student loan relief ends on September 30, 2021. Student Debt Crisis, the nation’s largest student loan debt advocacy organization, conducted the survey and is advocating for President Joe Biden to extend student loan relief in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Pandemic in the Legal System

• In California, “[t]wo dueling visions of remote proceedings in California’s courts are playing out in the state Capitol this summer. And so far, the biggest critics of keeping video technology in courtrooms post-pandemic are winning.”
• In Maryland, “Attorney General Brian E. Frosh (D) urged lawyers in the state to offer free or low-cost legal services during the pandemic recovery, as many residents head to the courts to deal with battles over housing, consumer debt, public benefits and family-law issues such as domestic violence.”
• In Kentucky, “the number of [legal aid] clients shot up by 2,750% [when the pandemic hit] and [] their caseload remains high.”

Non-Profit & Gov’t Management & Hiring

• In Washington DC, the Biden Administration released an “Executive Order on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in the Federal Workforce.”
  • For context, GovExec reported that “[t]he order builds on a series of edicts undertaken during the Obama administration, as well as Biden’s own efforts to restore diversity training at federal agencies and crack down on discrimination since he took office in January. But it also charts new territory in how it tries to improve recruitment, retention and professional development of underserved communities, including providing more comprehensive health coverage to LGBTQ+ federal workers, boosting protections for feds with disabilities and pushing agencies to transition from unpaid to paid internships.”
• Also in Washington DC, “White House internships could finally become paid, making them accessible to lower-income applicants[.]”
• Again also in Washington DC, “[t]he Supreme Court has struck down a lower court’s ruling and held that two California charities need not disclose the names of their top donors to the state.”
• In Oklahoma, “[a] lawsuit claiming the Oklahoma Bar Association’s mandatory bar dues violate attorneys’ First Amendment rights to freedom of association was revived after the Tenth Circuit found Tuesday the group might engage in ideological activities unrelated to its core purpose.”
• In a Letter to the Editor, the Chronicle of Philanthrophy published a rebuttal to a recent op-ed in part of an ongoing debate over whether nonprofit salaries should be disclosed in job ads.
• In Portland ME, “[a] federal appeals court has ruled that the Council on International Educational Exchange does not have to refund the costs of study abroad programs cut short by the global pandemic. Court documents show the Portland-based nonprofit sent about 4,000 students home last spring when COVID-19 began to spread around the world…Only those students who could not finish their classes virtually were considered for refunds[.]”

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In Washington DC, “[t]he Supreme Court [] allowed a federal moratorium on evictions imposed in response to the coronavirus pandemic to remain in place.”
  • Meanwhile, in Washington State, “[i]n the[ir] 2021 session, state lawmakers passed a measure guaranteeing tenants have a right to legal counsel in eviction cases. It was the first state in the nation to pass such a bill.”
  • Meanwhile in Toledo OH, “on the day the Supreme Court left a federal eviction moratorium intact in Washington…Toledo followed an earlier ruling by the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals that lifted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s eviction moratorium…[The judge in that case wrote] in his decision that the Supreme Court was acting in its capacity to assist the District of Columima Circuit appeals court, not establishing a nationwide ruling.”
  • Meanwhile, in Iowa “[n]early 41,000 Iowans fear they face eviction or foreclosure once a federal moratorium is lifted, according to federal census survey data.”
  • Meanwhile, in Illinois “[e]victions have resumed[], and while some tenants are still protected others are now getting notices.”
  • Meanwhile, Cleveland OH, the city’s right-to-counsel in evictions program “is showing early signs of success. According to an interim report on the program[], about 93 percent of the RTC clients who faced an eviction or involuntary move were able to avoid being displaced because of the legal representation they received.”
  • Meanwhile, in Milwaukee WI “a new pilot program…promis[ing] free legal representation for those facing eviction [began this week].”
  • Meanwhile, in Los Angeles CA “[a]s the 2021-22 fiscal year begins in Los Angeles today, so does the city’s new COVID-19 eviction defense program to offer free legal representation, counseling and education workshops for city renters who make 80% or less of the area median income and have been impacted by the pandemic.”
  • Meanwhile, in Wayne County MI “[t]he Neighborhood Defender Service of Detroit announced the launch of its Eviction Defense Practice slated to begin this fall, as housing assistance in the COVID-19 pandemic remains a top need.”
  • Meanwhile, in Maine “a new bill signed by Gov. Mills [requires] landlords who serve an eviction notice [] to provide a list of resources about rental assistance, legal aid, and court procedures.”
• In Boise ID, “the Idaho Supreme Court, in a unanimous opinion…agreed…that the Magistrate Court’s issuing arrest warrants for failure to pay court debt—without first conducting an ability-to-pay hearing—violates the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution pursuant to the United States Supreme Court’s ruling in Bearden v. Georgia , 461 U.S. 660 (1983), as well as the Idaho Constitution.”
• In Indiana, “[a] state judge has ruled that Indiana must continue to pay pandemic unemployment benefits to roughly 230,000 Hoosiers until a lawsuit challenging the early termination of the compensation is decided.”
• In Texas, “Texas RioGrande Legal Aid recently submitted an official request — a potential precursor to litigation — to the Texas Workforce Commission asking that it correct ‘systemic issues’ that the legal aid group says have resulted in ‘repeated failure to deliver unemployment benefits (since the pandemic began) in the manner required by state and federal law.’”
• In Florida, “[a] ruling from the Florida Supreme Court puts limits on how legal aid clinics can use their funds, potentially restricting the aid available to low-income Floridians who need representation in civil court.”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Arizona, a defendant’s “previously denied petition challenging his death sentence due to inadequate counsel, was reversed and approved by the Ninth Circuit Court[.]…The court stated that the counsel’s request for a mental health expert was not requested ‘in a more timely manner.’ [and] gathered that ‘there is at least a reasonable probability that development and presentation of mental health expert testimony would have changed the result of the sentencing proceeding.’ “
• In Fort Lee County FL, “felony case defendants who were part of a class action suit claiming a violation of civil rights caused by a malware attack at the public defender’s office in April have been trimmed to one.”
• In Brooklyn NY, “[s]ome 400 attorneys, civil advocates, social workers, investigators, support staff and other workers at the Brooklyn, New York, public defender’s office are seeking to unionize with the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys.”

Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform

• In Minnesota, “Attorney General Keith Ellison, whose office is increasingly being asked to lead police prosecutions, is again meeting legislative resistance in his bid to build up his office’s criminal division.”
• In Bexar County, TX, “Bexar County Public Defender Michael Young argued in a court filing that ‘Governor Abbott’s executive order GA-13 violates the separation of powers doctrine[.]’” GA-13 prevents sherrifs from releasing anyone arrested for or convicted of a crime of physical violence, and has prevented Texas counties from reducing jail populations during the pandemic. Texas Public Radio reported that “Harris County judges sued Abbott over the order in April 2020, but the Texas Supreme Court found they lacked standing.”

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello, interested public. There is much news this week, but my thoughts begin and end with Atlanta as I attempt to write.

Take care of one another,

Sam

Editor’s Choice

• In the United States, NPR reported that “Asian Americans and their allies are calling for solidarity and a push against discrimination and racist violence after a gunman killed eight people at three Atlanta-area spas Tuesday. Most of the victims were women of Asian descent. Authorities said it’s too early to declare the attacks a hate crime – prompting a debate over when that label should be used and how to present the gunman’s explanation.”
  • Meanwhile, in South Korea, Chosun Ilbo reported that “the Hankook Ilbo, Atlanta, quoted an employee A, a member of the ‘Gold Massage Spa’, a massage parlor where the shooting took place, and said that the suspect at the time of the crime said that he would ‘kill all Asians’.” [Translated from Korean by Google Translate]

Free & Fair Elections

• In Georgia, “advocates scored a win when the Georgia Chamber of Commerce issued a statement expressing ‘concern and opposition’ to the measures under consideration in the legislature, which would end no-excuse absentee voting, limit early voting hours, restrict drop-boxes for mail ballots, and curtail early voting on Sundays.”

Racial Justice

• In Carlisle PA, “Penn State Dickinson Law, one of the oldest U.S. law schools, and other campuses are revamping their curriculums with the goal of teaching aspiring lawyers how to fight racism. Spurred on by events, including the killing of George Floyd, the Carlisle, Pa.-based school created a year-long required course called “Race and Equal Protection of the Laws.” It teaches students the relationship between race and law in areas such as housing, health care, criminal justice, democracy, and capitalism.”

Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Issues

• In Arizona, “[t]hree nonprofit organizations have sued Arizona’s attorney general in federal court seeking the cancellation of an agreement requiring the state’s input in federal immigration policies, saying the Trump administration official who made the arrangement lacked the authority to do so.”
• In Washington DC, “[t]he Democratic-led House voted on Thursday to create a path to citizenship for an estimated four million undocumented immigrants…[i]n a near party-line vote of 228 to 197[.]”
• The BBC reported that “[a]s of 14 March, US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents were holding more than 13,000 unaccompanied children in custody, according to US media…At least 3,000 children have been kept for over 72 hours, the legal limit after which they are meant to be transferred to the custody of health officials in the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR).”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In an Issue Brief, the National Consumer Law Center reported that “of the millions of borrowers eligible for IDR, new data obtained by the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) shows that the total number of borrowers who have ever received cancellation is 32.”
• In Washington DC, “[p]art of the new stimulus bill could have big implications if President Joe Biden pushes ahead with plans to forgive some student loan debt. The American Rescue Plan does not include student loan forgiveness, but makes any income from forgiveness of student loans tax-free through 2025. Forgiven debt is normally considered taxable income.”
• In Cambridge MA, “[t]he city council…called on President Biden to formulate a plan within his first 100 days in office to cancel all student loan debt using executive authority, a call that comes as demands for action have increased among congressional Democrats.”

Pandemic in the Legal System

• In Connecticut, as the state “gears up for jury trials to kick off no earlier than May 3 in federal and state court, there’s a question on whether jury pools will be representative of the populations of each community. Some attorneys are raising the question because research has shown communities of color aren’t getting vaccinated at nearly the rate of their white counterparts. And some attorneys wonder how this might play out come time to pick a jury.”

Non-Profit & Gov’t Management & Hiring

• In Manitoba, “[a] human rights organization is calling out what it feels is a discriminatory practice acting as a barrier to keep Black, Indigenous and people of colour (BIPOC) from entering legal professions in Manitoba. The practice in question is called ‘the good character process.’”
• In New York, “State Assembly Democrats have retained attorneys from a high-profile Manhattan-based law firm to lead the chamber’s impeachment investigation into sexual harassment claims against Gov. Cuomo.”
• In Washington DC, “[n]onprofits and their advocates are lining up behind a bill that would provide $50 billion to help nonprofits boost hiring and weather increased demand for services as the nation continues to grapple with the Covid health and economic crises.”
• In Maryland, the president of Maryland Defenders Union Local 423 wrote in favor of “MDU’s key legislation — SB757/HB1277 — which will recategorize attorneys within the Office of the Public Defender as professional service employees with merit status rather than at-will appointees with no job protections.”
• In Queens NY, “[a]ttorneys and social workers at a Queens public defender agency have voted to unionize, according to election results certified by the National Labor Relations Board[.]”

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In Ontario, the “Ministry of the Attorney General announced a new multi-year plan aimed at enhancing access to the justice system, which includes a $28.5-million investment in a new digital case-management and dispute resolution system for Ontario’s tribunals. [The strategy] is a “formalization” of the government’s efforts in “breaking down barriers and speeding up services,” [and] also includes enhancing the capacity for remote court hearings to northern, rural and Indigenous communities, expanding provincewide the digital document sharing platform Caselines and widening online filing services for civil and family claims.”
• In Maryland, “[a] proposal to guarantee low-income tenants the right to counsel against retaliatory evictions passed out of the Maryland House of Delegates [] after fierce objections from Republicans.”
• In Massachusetts, “[t]he state’s largest funder of civil legal aid services is asking lawmakers to increase state funding by 20 percent in the fiscal 2022 budget to help fund services for low-income residents facing legal issues in areas like housing, employment, education, and government benefits.”
• In Connecticut, “[a] local push to guarantee legal representation for low-income tenants facing eviction notched a victory, as state legislators advanced a ‘Right to Counsel’ bill out of committee and toward the General Assembly floor for further debate and a potential future vote.”
• In New Jersey, “[eviction cases] are occurring throughout New Jersey, despite the protections Murphy put in place. Housing experts have urged state leaders to condemn landlords who flout the executive order and the law that requires a warrant for removal.”
• In the United States, “[t]he U.S. Labor Department’s inspector general identified $5.4 billion in potentially fraudulent claims paid out by state agencies last year and suggested better state-federal coordination to prevent future fraud…Now, with President Joe Biden enacting a $1.9 trillion relief package,…those agencies remain under pressure to manage the workload while avoiding those pitfalls. The U.S. Labor Department is allowing about six weeks for them to get set.”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Massachusetts, the Committee for Public Counsel Services, which “represent[s] approximately 90 percent of adults charged with crimes in Massachusetts” took the anniversary of Gideon v. Wainwright as an opportunity to reflect on “what we have seen and experienced during a pandemic that has laid bare the gross inequities that continue to exist in our system.”
• In Florida, “[p]roposed amendments to Florida’s speedy trial rules would be ‘unjust’ for the criminally accused and, in particular, poorer defendants,” according to the Florida Public Defender Association.
• In New Mexico, “[t]he New Mexico Supreme Court Thursday invalidated a Hobbs man’s misdemeanor conviction because a magistrate court accepted a no contest plea without providing the defendant with a lawyer as required by the Constitution.”
• In Washington DC, “[a]ll federal prisons employees have been offered the coronavirus vaccine, but just 49% have accepted it so far, the Federal Bureau of Prisons director said…[w]hen asked during a hearing before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies[.]”

Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform

• In Manhattan NY, the “District Attorney’s Office grant[ed] the public access to more than seven years worth of racial data that the top prosecutor here says has informed his approach to criminal justice reform.”
• In St. Louis MO, CBS News profiled Kim Gardner, who “has endured death threats, racial slurs and the relentless opposition of the police union as she tries to keep her election promise and remake the justice system.”

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello, interested public! Welcome to the end of another jam-packed week. Highlights revolve around student debt relief, where the details of various proposals are coming under greater scrutiny as some form of relief looks increasingly likely, and the Right to Counsel in Eviction, where states and localities are moving with renewed urgency as various pandemic eviction moratoria continue to expire. In criminal justice, a judge in Missouri ruled public defender “waiting lists” unconstitutional. And in Ontario, a superior court judge accepted the possibility that gun manufacturers may have civil liability for mass shootings under certain circumstances.

Take care of one another,

Sam

Editor’s Choice

• In a Brookings Institution paper worth reading in full, authors Andre M. Perryand Carl Romer of the Metropolitan Policy Program argued that “[s]tudent debt cancellation should consider wealth, not income”:
  
  Critics of student debt cancellation often focus on the higher income earnings of professionals…But these broadside critiques often miss three key details in the labor market. First, an American Economic Association study showed that while individuals with student loans do have higher incomes, they do not have statistically significant higher hourly wages, suggesting that student debt is forcing loan holders to work longer hours. Second, student debt pushes graduates to choose work they are less passionate about and away from public interest careers that offer lower salaries relative to corporate work. Third, a study in the Economics of Education Review shows that recent graduates with student debt take jobs that have higher initial salaries but lower potential wage growth.
  
  Critics of student debt cancellation also misrepresent who borrows and who holds federal student debt. According to our Brookings colleagues, Black borrowers typically owe 50% more in student debt upon graduation than their white peers. Four years after graduation, this gap increases to 100%. While poor and Black households’ student debt increases, nonbank marketplace lenders like Splash Financial and SoFi offer lower refinance rates to low-credit-risk households. By targeting the student debts of the highest-income and highest-net-worth households, private companies have forced the federal government to hold the highest-risk loans (those held by lower-income and low-wealth households), according to the Congressional Budget Office. So, by cancelling federal student debt, lawmakers are ipso facto aiding low-wealth households.
  
  [emphases added]

Free & Fair Elections

• In Washington DC, “[t]he Supreme Court hear[d] arguments [] in a pair of cases that could impact voting rights[.] The cases involve whether a third party can turn in someone else’s ballot and whether to count ballots that are submitted in the wrong precinct.”

Environmental Justice & Environmental Collapse

• In Houston TX, “[t]he Houston Bar Association (HBA) and its related organizations [are] offer[ing] legal resources and services for those affected by Winter Storm Uri.”

Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Issues

• In Washington DC, “[t]he United States could help pay for transportation, healthcare, legal services, and career and educational programs for migrant families separated under former President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” border strategy, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said.”
• In Illinois, “[a] House committee [] advanced legislation that would create a task force to look into the feasibility of providing legal representation to individuals subject to deportation proceedings in the state.”
• In New York, “federal judge Lawrence Vilardo criticized Immigration and Customs Enforcement for failing to provide medically vulnerable people it is detaining in upstate New York access to COVID-19 vaccinations. ‘You’re doing nothing to get them the vaccine,’ Vilardo told the government attorney representing ICE. ‘Nothing. Zero.’ In late February, Vilardo ordered ICE to come up with a plan for vaccinating people detained at its immigration detention center in Batavia.”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In the United States, “[r]acial justice has become a leading issue in the latest push for debt cancellation. Because Black students have to rely more on student debt to pay for their college education and then take much longer to pay it down after school, researchers have found that student debt is actually exacerbating the existing racial wealth gap among younger generations…The problem is, $10,000 worth of cancellation — the amount that President Joe Biden has said he’d support — is not enough to make progress on that racial justice goal, experts [told] Money…Recent research has shown that forgiving $75,000 would be needed to help roughly 80% of Black households with student loans by wiping out their debt and boosting their wealth.”
• In New York, “New York State has sued the Federal Education Department’s sole-source contractor FedLoan Servicing (or PHEAA, the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency or American Education Services) for ‘failing miserably in its administration of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness.’“

Pandemic in the Legal System

• In Marion County IN, “a new pro bono mediation project…pushed forward [despite the pandemic], launching a program that so far has garnered roughly 100 volunteers and has already helped resolve some 20 cases[:] ‘As courts started getting more used to doing hearings by Zoom or Webex or by phone, [we] reconnected and said, ‘Why not talk to the courts about doing mediations this way?’ ”
• In El Paso County CO, “[a] judge [] threw out a contempt charge he’d previously leveled against a public defender who refused to show up in person for a jury trial due to COVID-19 concerns, saying he believed the attorney learned his lesson and needed no further punishment.”

Non-Profit & Gov’t Management & Hiring

• In New York, the state’s “prosecutor rejected a proposal by Governor Andrew Cuomo for her to pick a lawyer to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct against him, after Cuomo’s office backtracked on Sunday on a plan to choose its own investigator. State Attorney General Letitia James said it was essential that Cuomo’s administration instead formally refer the matter to her office for investigation, which would give her subpoena power and ensure an impartial probe.”
• Also in New York, “New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has retained a prominent white-collar criminal defense lawyer to represent his office in a federal investigation into the state’s misreporting of COVID-19 deaths among nursing home residents[.]”
• In Los Angeles CA, “[a] deputy…city attorney is suing her employer, alleging she suffered a backlash after spending four years demanding equal pay for her and other female employees in her office.”
• In Washington DC, “[t]he Justice Department under President Joe Biden backed off the Trump administration’s argument that a California donor-disclosure requirement for nonprofits is unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court is reviewing a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that upheld the state requirement, which requires charities to disclose their largest donors to state officials.”
• In Wisconsin, “Gov. Tony Evers signed a bill…that will boost pay for state public defenders…allow[ing] the State Public Defender to exceed the 10% cap for merit raises for the remainder of this fiscal year [and] help close the gap that was created between public defenders and the Assistant District Attorneys.”
• In Canada, “[the] Attorney General of Canada[] announced the Government of Canada’s support to Botler AI for the Pan-Canadian Triage System for Sexual Harassment, Misconduct & Violence. Botler AI has created an artificial intelligence system that anonymously sorts sexual misconduct complaints across Canada based on the details of individual situations and provides users with a personalized set of resources relevant to their own case.“

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In Connecticut, “[l]egislation that would provide tenants facing eviction the ‘right to counsel’ has been named a top priority of the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus and House Speaker Matt Ritter. Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney also supports the concept. A hearing on the bill was scheduled for [3/4/21].”
• In New York, “The Legal Aid Society released [a] statement calling on Albany to immediately enact the COIVD-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Program of 2021 (S2742B/A3918) now that New York’s 60-day blanket eviction moratorium [has] expired[.]”
• In Burlington VT, “[a] charter change proposal…[asking] voters if the city’s charter should be amended to include protections from evictions that don’t meet the standards of ‘just cause’…[passed] 8,829 to 5,187, according to the city’s unofficial results.”
• In Milwaukee WI, County District Supervisor Clancy argued that “[t]he time is now to adopt the Right to Counsel [in Eviction] in Milwaukee County.”
• In Texas, the Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court “request[ed] additional funding [for civil legal aid] because of the dire need for assistance,” arguing that “[c]ivil legal aid is an essential resource that ensures all Texans have equal access to the justice system. While legal aid providers are working tirelessly to provide these invaluable services, the need for assistance grows as the economic and health effects from COVID-19 continue and will increase on the heels of the winter storm.”
• In Ontario, “[a] Superior Court judge has accepted, in a preliminary decision in Price v. Smith & Wesson Corp., 2020 ONSC 1114, that gun manufacturers may have civil liability in Canada for losses caused by mass shootings when feasible safety measures could have prevented the harm but were not used.”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Missouri, “[l]awmakers may increase public defender funding after [a state] judge rul[ed] against [the] state’s wait list.”
  • Relatedly, “[l]ast month, Missouri’s ‘waiting lists’ for public defenders were declared unconstitutional. Cole County Circuit Court Judge William E. Hickle ruled that the Missouri Office of State Public Defender violated the constitutional rights of indigent people awaiting trial by forcing them to wait for weeks, and even months, before being assigned an attorney.”
• In Wyoming, the ACLU of Wyoming argued that “a common sense-solution” to the state’s “[inability] to adequate fund the State Public Defender’s Office” would be to repeal the death penalty in Wyoming: “the Public Defender’s Office has spent significant resources on providing constitutionally required defense in death penalty cases. Even the most conservative estimates…show that between $1 million to $2 million is spent every biennium on the death penalty…Without the death penalty on the books in Wyoming, that money could immediately be re-appropriated within the Public Defender’s Office to provide for competitive salaries, proper staffing and other immediate needs with the office itself.”
• In Medina County OH, “Chief Public Defender Jocelyn Stefancin made a final stand [] to try to save the Medina County Public Defender’s Office from closure. Despite her pleas, the Medina County commissioners wouldn’t budge and said they will follow through with plans for the office to be terminated, effective April 30.”

Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform

• In Los Angeles CA, “[v]ictims rights advocates joined with the support of Sheriff Alex Villanueva to launch a recall campaign against newly-elected Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón. Gascón campaigned on a reform agenda when he successfully unseated incumbent DA Jackie Lacey last year. But after he took office and began detailing how many of those reforms would take shape, victims advocates and others in law enforcement and even from within Gascón’s own office have begun to protest.”
• Also in Los Angeles, “[t]he City Countil voted [] to veto the mayor’s override of a spending plan to redirect some funds from the LAPD to social programs.”
• In Atlanta GA, “[a]fter Georgia’s attorney general refused to reassign two high-profile cases involving allegations of excessive force against Atlanta police officers, including the killing of Rayshard Brooks, the district attorney is asking the court to decide who should handle the prosecutions. Newly elected Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis sent a letter to Attorney General Chris Carr in January asking him to reassign the cases, raising concerns that actions by her predecessor, Paul Howard, made it inappropriate for her office continuing to handle the cases.”
• In Illinois, “Cook County Public Defender Amy Campanelli [talked] about the criminal justice reform bill signed by Governor Pritzker [] eliminating cash bail.”
• In Allegheny County PA, “the Abolitionist Law Center, a nonprofit law firm focused on criminal justice reforms…is suing [Common Pleas Judge Anthony Mariani…seeking ‘declaratory and injunctive relief’[.]” The Law Center “hasn’t been able to observe [Judge Mariani’s] courtroom via remote access, despite other courtroom participants using virtual access and other judges granting virtual access to several other ALC court watchers.”
• In Massachusetts, “[a] commission tasked with studying the civil service law and increasing transparency and the number of people of color in civil service positions did not hold its first meeting by the deadline required under the new policing reform law.”
• In South Carolina, “[state] senators…added a firing squad to the electric chair as alternatives if the state can’t execute condemned inmates by way of lethal injection. The Senate then approved the bill on a key 32-11 vote with several Democrats joining Republicans in the proposal which would allow South Carolina to restart executions after nearly 10 years.”
• In New York, “[t]he Monroe County Public Defender’s Office has sent a report to local police agencies in an effort to assist them in the state-mandated effort to reform law enforcement agencies.”

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

• In the United States, “[w]hen President Donald Trump and his enablers began bringing that Big Lie [that the presidential election was stolen] to court, some experts warned that these lawyers may never face disciplinary proceedings. But Monday’s disbarment complaint against Sidney Powell and three additional attorneys for alleged misconduct in Michigan, as well as ethics complaints elsewhere against Rudolph W. Giuliani and others, are important steps in that direction.”

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.”
  • Relatedly, “[t]he Senate parliamentarian is expected to issue a preliminary ruling as early as next week on whether the wage hike can be included [in budget reconciliation], and Biden has notably not endorsed the calls of some Democrats who want to overrule any decision that would prevent its inclusion.”
• 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.

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello, interested public! I hope you’re all weathering the new year and our continuing shared challenges. The news continues to be jam-packed, but as other aspects of my work become somewhat more manageable I hope to help you sort through it again. This is a long edition, covering material related to the new administration in Washington, the ongoing pandemic and its effects on the legal system and on our social safety net more broadly, and continued reverberations from racial justice protests and challenges to the legitimacy of the recent national election. The most noteworthy story may be a recent survey indicating broad bipartisan appeal (among the populace, not necessarily politicians) for a right to counsel in eviction proceedings.

Take care of one another,

Sam

Transition of Power

• In Washington DC, “[i]n a last-minute attempt to assuage outgoing President Donald Trump’s privacy concerns, the Justice Department last month issued a legal opinion creating a situation where, upon taking office, President Joe Biden would not be able to access certain electronic records from the previous administration—even if those records are on the president’s computer hardware. The six-page memo—penned by the DOJ Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) Deputy Assistant Attorney General Devin DeBacker[]— states that under the Presidential Records Act (PRA) the U.S. Archivist, not the incoming president, assumes responsibility for the ‘custody, control, and preservation of’ all records of the previous administration…Neil Eggleston, the former White House counsel to President Barack Obama during the Trump transition period, told Business Insider he was concerned that Trump’s legal team may try and use the memo to ‘claim an overly broad exclusion from the right of the Biden administration to access documents critical for the continuity of government.’”
• Also in Washington DC, “[a] high-profile Native American activist who formerly led the National Congress of American Indians and top environmental justice leaders and experts have joined the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, signaling President Joe Biden’s continued commitment to environmental and climate justice. The 14 new EPA appointees announced Tuesday do not require Senate confirmation, and many hail from backgrounds that touch civil rights work.”
• Also also Washington DC, “[a recent judicial] recommendation this month by [Colorado’s] two Democratic U.S. senators has drawn pushback from liberals [who] say the endorsement flouts President Joe Biden’s pledge to staff the federal bench with more civil rights lawyers and public defenders, and fewer corporate attorneys and prosecutors.”

Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Issues

• In Houston TX, “President Joe Biden’s administration has deported hundreds of immigrants in its early days despite his campaign pledge to stop removing most people in the U.S. illegally at the beginning of his term. A federal judge last week ordered the Biden administration not to enforce a 100-day moratorium on deportations, but the ruling did not require the government to schedule them. In recent days, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has deported immigrants to at least three countries: 15 people to Jamaica on Thursday and 269 people to Guatemala and Honduras[.]”
• In Washington DC, “President Biden signed three new immigration-related executive orders Tuesday evening, including one to create a task force dedicated to reuniting migrant families that were separated at the southern border under the Trump administration.”
• Also in Washington DC, “The Biden administration is opening an overflow facility for unaccompanied migrant children apprehended at the US-Mexico border, the federal agency tasked with the children’s care told CNN in a statement. The Health and Human Services Department will reopen a facility in Carrizo Springs, Texas, that can accommodate about 700 children and can be expanded if necessary.”
• Also also in Washington DC, “[a]dvocacy groups and immigration attorneys have cheered [the administration’s] early steps [at immigration reform], but warn that Biden’s overall success could be limited if he’s unable to tackle another problem that has been growing for years: the ever-growing case backlog in federal immigration courts. Without addressing the backlog, they say, Biden’s mission of achieving a fair and equitable immigration system won’t be complete.”

Pandemic in the Legal System

• In the United States, “[t]op judges from Nevada, Texas, Michigan and California detailed how the pandemic has forced them to make courts more accessible and service-oriented.”
• In Los Angeles CA, “[d]espite massive restrictions on businesses and restaurants for fear of spreading COVID, Los Angeles Superior Court is still holding some in-person sessions for evictions and traffic trials. Just last month, three LA County Superior Court staff members died of the virus. Hundreds of court employees and several judges have tested positive, putting scores of other court attendees at potential risk of infection.”
• In Baltimore MD, “[d]espite state orders limiting courtroom operations, Baltimore County courts are still scheduling hundreds of in-person hearings for low-level, nonviolent offenses each week, and the Maryland Defenders Union says it’s putting county attorneys, judicial staff and the public at risk.”
• In Prince William County, “attorneys at the Prince William public defender office began raising concerns about the treatment of clients being held at the [Prince William-Manassas Adult Detention Center], including complaints from inmates about the lack of hygiene during the outbreak and the use of solitary confinement to slow the spread of the virus.”
  • • In BuzzFeed, a public defender described the risks the legal system is imposing on her clients.
• In New York NY, “[p]ublic defender groups from across New York City have followed through on their threat to sue Gov. Cuomo in order to force the state to vaccinate inmates.”
• In Washington DC, “[t]he U.S. Department of Homeland Security says Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection will not conduct immigration arrests at or near COVID-19 vaccine distribution sites.”

State-Sponsored Violence

• In Washington DC, Human Rights Watch issued official recommendations to key Congressional representatives concerning the Justice in Policing Act of 2020, arguing that “research by Human Rights Watch and others has shown that police violence is inextricably linked to deep and persisting racial inequities and economic class divisions, perpetuated and exacerbated by laws and policies that prioritize policing and criminalization as the primary state response to a range of societal problems. When introduced, supporters claimed the JPA was “bold,” and “comprehensive,”–something that would “change the culture of law enforcement.” But for legislation to be meaningful and effective, it needs to address these societal conditions at their root not simply by modifying the law enforcement responses to them.”

Violence Against Protesters

• In Milwaukee WI, “[a] judge [] eclined a prosecutor’s’ request to have Kyle Rittenhouse arrested until he posts another $200,000 bail and reveals where he’s living. He did order Rittenhouse’s attorney to disclose his client’s address, under seal, to the court and the sheriff’s office, but not to the District Attorney’s Office. The prosecutors say Rittenhouse,18, charged with fatally shooting two protesters and wounding a third during violent protests in August, has been in violation of his bail conditions because he never updated the address he had listed on jail records.”
• In Buffalo NY, “[a] grand jury dismissed the case against two Buffalo, NY, police officers who were charged last year after video showed an elderly protester being shoved to the ground during a demonstration. Officers Robert McCabe and Aaron Torgalski had been charged with felony second-degree assault.”

Free & Fair Elections

• The New York Times reported that, “[i]n the latest volley in the battle over disinformation in the presidential election, Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Corporation has been sued by an obscure tech company that has accused his cable networks of defamation and contributing to the fervor that led to the siege of the Capitol.”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In the New York Daily News, Rep. Mondaire Jones argued that “President Biden must use his authority to cancel $50,000 in student debt for every person with federal loans. Today.”
• In Washington DC, “Senate Republicans have unveiled a new stimulus proposal to counter the plan offered by President Bident and congressional Democrats. And student loan borrowers are left out, again.”
• Also in Washington DC, Rep. “Ilhan Omar has suggested a new tax on stock trades that could be used to pay off student debt.”
• Also also in Washington DC, after Senators Warren and Schumer called on President Biden to unilaterally cancel student debt, Forbes opined on how “this approach raises several concerns about the possibility of Congress–which Democrats control–passing student loan cancellation.”
• Also again also in Washington DC, “Navient, a student loan company, [was] ordered to repay $22 million to the government.”
• Again also also again in Washington DC, “Democratic Senators unveiled a sweeping bankruptcy bill [] that would dramatically reform the United States bankruptcy system, and make it easier for struggling Americans to discharge student loans and medical debt through bankruptcy.”
• CNBC discussed “what you can expect [from tax season] as a student loan borrower amid the pandemic’s ongoing relief.”

Non-Profit & Gov’t Management & Hiring

• In New York NY, “Deborah Archer, daughter of Jamaican immigrants, was last weekend elected the new president of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), becoming the first person of African-American ancestry to head the 101-year-old organisation. A civil rights attorney who is a professor at New York University Law School, Archer will oversee the 60-member board and deal with operational, organisational, as well as fundraising issues.”
• In Queens NY, “[t]wo employees of the indigent defense organization Queens Defenders were fired on Monday, less than two months after staff announced a union drive with overwhelming support. Both employees, social worker Betsy Vasquez and attorney Anna Avalone, are outspoken supporters of the ongoing union drive at Queens Defenders. Pro-union employees and a union organizer said that the firings were illegal retaliation against the staffers for supporting the union…The Queens Defenders Union announced its drive for recognition as a chapter of the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys (ALAA) in December, claiming the support of 90 percent of eligible employees and multiple Queens elected officials.”
• In Miami FL, a federal judge ruled that “[a] former Broward County [] assistant public defender can pursue her lawsuit alleging she was fired for advocating for social justice issues during an unsuccessful campaign to unseat her boss.”
• In Canada, “[a] research team [from McMaster University] has spoken with leaders from front-line non-profit organizations, and their funding partners…to better understand how the pandemic is affecting organizations across Canada.”
• In the United States, Prof. Donald Moynihan of Georgetown University discussed his research into “how federal managers use performance data over time,” research which suggests that “[t]he current system GPRAMA had worked where GPRA and PART had failed: pushing managers to use performance data to make decisions.”
• In Washington DC, “[a] bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers is once again pushing to remove mandatory payments toward the health benefits for future U.S. Postal Service retirees, aiming to eliminate a controversial requirement upon which the cash-strapped mailing agency has defaulted for years.”
• Also in Washington DC, “[a] newly formed non-profit says it is reimagining philanthropy by supporting people, organizations, businesses and non-profits making a difference in communities of color in Virginia, Maryland and DC.”

Expanding Legal Practice

• In Arizona, “[a]nyone can now become a legal paraprofessional and represent clients in Arizona courts [after t]he Arizona Supreme Court earlier this year sanctioned paraprofessionals who could provide more affordable legal representation. Paraprofessionals can act for clients in misdemeanor cases with no possibility of jail time, or in family and small claims courts.”

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In the United States, “[a]ccording to a new poll from Data for Progress and The Lab, a policy vertical of The Appeal, voters overwhelmingly want a fairer process in eviction cases…64% of voters—including 78% of Democrats, 61% of independents, and 51% of Republicans—believe Congress should pass a measure to fund legal services to prevent evictions. 68% of voters—including 75% of Democrats, 71% of independents, and 58% of Republicans—support a right to counsel in eviction proceedings, similar to the right that exists for criminal cases.”
  • Relatedly, in Nebraska, “[a] new bill in the Nebraska Legislature introduced by Sen. John Cavanaugh, District 9 of Omaha, would provide every tenant across the state with the right to an attorney when they walk into the courtroom.”
  • Relatedly, in Florida, “a handful of bills filed at the State Capitol seek to keep people in their homes. Every day in Florida, 180 new eviction notices are being filed.”
  • Relatedly, in Maryland, “[a]s the Maryland General Assembly session gets into full swing, many lawmakers are pushing bills meant to protect tenants.”
• In Los Angeles CA, “[t]he Social Justice Legal Foundation (www.socialjusticelaw.org) launched today with a $10 million pledge of support from Hueston Hennigan LLP…The Foundation – funded and created by the partners of Hueston Hennigan LLP – will collaborate with Columbia, Northwestern, Stanford, UCLA and Yale law schools to identify pressing legal issues and to mentor and develop a new generation of trial lawyers in the public sector…To address evolving societal crises, the Foundation will rotate its primary areas of attention every two years from among the following initial areas: economic justice, housing/homeless discrimination, LGBTQ+ rights, immigrant justice, Native American discrimination, voting rights and criminal justice reform. The Foundation’s cases and focus areas will be informed by its executive leadership, academic partners, other social justice organizations and fellows.”
• In Wisconsin, as of February 5th the Wisconsin State Bar is organizing “Wisconsin-licensed lawyers [to] offer free consultations, by Zoom or by phone, of up to one hour to small businesses. Businesses can get an additional session at no charge if the issue is not adequately resolved.”
• In Providence RI, “[t]he American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island is suing the attorney general’s office, challenging a $225 fee charged to a law student for records regarding plea deals that could have immigration consequences. The ACLU filed the lawsuit on behalf of Roger Williams University School of Law student Lindsay Koso, who is doing research for a law review article on state immigration law. One law requires the attorney general to give the legislature an annual report listing cases in which plea agreements were vacated because judges failed to tell criminal defendants that a plea could have adverse immigration consequences…[T]he lawsuit calls that charge “per se unreasonable” because the public shouldn’t have to pay for reports that an agency is required to submit publicly. And the lawsuit says the $225 fee is so large that it would deter Koso or other members of the public from pursuing the records.”
• In New Hampshire, “[a] new study has exposed serious financial woes and gaps in legal help for New Hampshire’s neediest residents, including victims of domestic violence – justice and safety challenges that have become more pressing with the pandemic.”
• In Pennsylvania, “[u]nder a new law, people experiencing homelessness will now have the ability to receive a free identification card from PennDOT.”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Chesterfield County VA, “[t]he Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee approved legislation Wednesday morning that would create a public defender’s office in Chesterfield County and replace the county’s existing court-appointed attorney system, in which private attorneys are assigned by judges to represent defendants who can’t afford to hire counsel.”