Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello, interested public!

The news never rests. This week we’re featuring a lot of updated coverage of previously shared stories, including the evolving situations involving Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, St. Louis County Attorney Kim Gardner, and California’s Antioch Police Department. Additionally, we’ve added a category addressing the public defender hiring crisis impacting many counties and states across the nation.

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

Happy reading,

Brittany

Editor’s Choice(s)

• Following our coverage of the investigation of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, “Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday declined an invitation from Senate Democrats to testify about ethics standards at the Supreme Court amid a series of high-profile controversies involving his colleagues.…Citing separation of powers concerns, Roberts noted how rare it is for chief justices to testify before congressional committees.”

Eye on AI

• In New York City, NY, “New York City's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) is expected to begin enforcing the City's novel artificial intelligence (AI) bias audit law on July 5, 2023. This law prohibits the use of automated decision tools in employment decisions within New York City unless certain bias audit, notice, and reporting requirements are met.”

Employment Rights

• In Ontario, Canada, “[p]roposed changes in Ontario would make remote workers eligible for the same 'enhanced' notice period as in-office employees, and it would also entitle new hires to certain written information about their jobs.”

• In the United States, “[the] Florida-based think tank [Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA)] and its lobbying arm, the Opportunity Solutions Project, have found remarkable success among Republicans to relax regulations that prevent children from working long hours in dangerous conditions…. On the surface, the FGA frames its child worker bills as part of a larger debate surrounding parental rights, including in education and child care. But the state-by-state campaigns, the group’s leader said, help the FGA create openings to deconstruct larger government regulations.”

• In Michigan, “[a] workers’ decertification petition comes in the wake of Michigan legislators ramming through a bill to repeal their state’s decade-old and highly popular Right to Work law. When the repeal law takes effect, union officials will once again have the power to force workers to pay up or be fired in workplaces where the union has forced ‘representation’ powers.”

Immigration & Refugee Issues

• In the United States, “[t]he Biden administration will send asylum and refugee officers to Latin America to help process potential migrants before they reach the United States as part of an effort to revamp its immigration policies before a pandemic-era expulsion policy expires next Month.”

Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, & Reproductive Rights

• In the United States, “[t]Comstock Act banned the posting of abortion supplies—and was never fully repealed[.]”

• In Colorado, “…regulators and prosecutors said in a series of federal court filings Thursday that they would not enforce a new, first-in-the-nation law banning so-called abortion pill reversal treatment until the state’s medical boards determine whether the controversial practice should be allowed.”

• In Kansas, “…health care providers could face criminal charges over accusations about their care of newborns delivered during certain abortion procedures after the Republican-controlled Legislature on Wednesday overrode Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of their legislation.”

• In North Dakota, “…Gov. Doug Burgum has signed a bill into law that is now one of the toughest pieces of anti-abortion legislation in the United States. The bill revised the state's near-total abortion ban to add in language that would address a doctor's fear of prosecution.”

• In Edgewood, NM, “[a] small town near Albuquerque, New Mexico, adopted an ordinance Wednesday that seeks to block the distribution of abortion drugs or supplies by mail, extending a wave of similar restrictions to other local governments.”

• In New York, “[the s]tate's Securing Reproductive Health Centers Program, announced by Governor Kathy Hochul, will allocate over $1.68 million in grants to enhance reproductive healthcare access for services at nonprofit community health centers statewide.”

• In Tennessee, “…the US Department of Justice intervened as co-plaintiff in a lawsuit filed in federal court in Nashville, Tennessee, a week earlier by the ACLU and Lambda Legal, challenging the constitutionality of SB 1, a recently-enacted Tennessee law that prohibits gender-affirming care for minors.”

• In Washington State, “Washington governor signs legal protections for people who travel there seeking abortions[ and] gender-affirming health care.”

Environmental Crisis

• In the United States, “[t]he Biden administration’s upcoming attack on one of the nation’s largest contributors to climate change is expected to rest on a novel technology for capturing power plants’ greenhouse gas pollution, according to two people familiar with the deliberations. That would be an aggressive — even transformational — approach from EPA, ushering in the most stringent regulations on fossil fuel plants in the nation’s history.”

• In North Carolina, “Senate Bill 678 revises the state’s definition of ‘renewable energy’ to ‘clean energy’ and includes nuclear energy that previously did not qualify as renewable power. State Sen. Paul Newton (R), a former top Duke Energy executive, is leading the push for the legislative change.”

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In the United States, “[t]he Department of Justice has announced a new initiative to provide civil legal services to incarcerated individuals in select Bureau of Prisons women’s facilities.”

• At the University of Victoria in Canada, “[g]enerous community support totalling $1.4 million will advance legal education for Indigenous students at the University of Victoria, providing them with the knowledge and network to draw from, engage with, and work across legal organizations and within communities.”

• In Manitoba, Canada, “[a]nyone filing a complaint to the Manitoba Human Rights Commission can expect a delay of two years before an investigator is assigned, despite efforts in recent years to address a backlog of cases.”

• In Alaska, “[l]egislation that could boost state funding to assist more low-income Alaskans needing help with civil law issues has advanced through its second state Senate committee and is waiting for a vote by the full chamber.”

• In Austin, TX, “[r]esidents of Austin, Texas with limited Internet access will be able to use a free kiosk for legal services including virtual court hearings…. Residents will be able to upload legal documents and interact with the court using the device.”

• Great strides continue in the fight for the right to counsel for tenants:

  • In Los Angeles, CA, “Los Angeles housing advocates have pushed the idea for years. But now, thanks to a newly progressive City Council and the city’s new transfer tax, it could finally come into view: A right to free legal counsel for Los Angeles tenants facing eviction.”

  • In New Jersey, “[t]he Jersey City Planning Board unanimously approved the development fee component of the right to counsel at last night’s meeting, setting up a city council vote for final approval.”

  • In Rhode Island, “Rhode Island’s House Judiciary Committee considers H-6129, a bill providing legal representation for tenants in eviction proceedings. A $3.1 million contract has been awarded to Rhode Island Legal Services to administer this program temporarily, but the passage of the bill is crucial for a more permanent solution.”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Contra Costa, CA, following up on our recent coverage, “[a]s the investigation into the Antioch Police Department continues to grow, Congressman Mark DeSaulnier (D- Walnut Creek) and John Garamendi (D-Richmond) have written to the U.S. Department of Justice to launch a formal investigation.”

  • Relatedly, “[m]embers of the East County chapter of the NAACP, which includes Antioch, are demanding accountability following the Antioch police texting scandal exposed in two reports published by the Contra Costa County District Attorney's office.”

• In Florida, following up on our recent coverage, “[u]nder mounting pressure after a former prosecutor blew the whistle on what she called a ‘racism policy,’ State Attorney Jack Campbell says he will review cases from undocumented immigrants who believe they were denied a plea deal because of their race.”

  • Relatedly, “State Attorney Jack Campbell conceded that the policy was ‘inappropriate and insensitive’….”

• In Dougherty County, GA, “[i]n 2013, Maurice Jimmerson was charged with murder. Ten years later, he still hasn't received a trial. Even though two of Jimmerson's codefendants were acquitted in 2017, Jimmerson—who pleaded not guilty—still languishes in jail in Dougherty County, Georgia, with little hope of a trial anytime soon. Making matters worse, he hasn't had a lawyer since last summer.”

• In Michigan, “[w]here a judge found that minors prosecuted for truancy waived their right to counsel, the judge’s improper waiver finding and failure to determine the children’s capacity and capability to represent themselves deprived them of their right to counsel.”

• Also in Michigan, “…lawmakers hope to push through the Access to Justice Plan, a set of bills that would give sexual assault survivors more time to seek justice.”

• In Mississippi, “…the Mississippi Supreme Court unanimously approved an amendment to the state’s rules of criminal procedure to ensure indigent defendants have consistent legal representation to end the ‘dead zone’….”

• In St. Louis County, MO, following up on our recent coverage, “Judge Michael Noble decided to appoint a special prosecutor during a hearing on Thursday after saying there is sufficient evidence that the Circuit Attorney’s Office disrespected the judicial process….Gardner was not present at the hearing Thursday.”

  • Relatedly, “[a] push to combine the St. Louis City and St. Louis County Circuit Attorney’s Office is picking up steam. County executives from St. Charles County, Franklin County and Jefferson County penned a statement Thursday in support of some West County officials’ plan to combine the two offices and have voters from both areas choose a single prosecutor.”

  • More related news, “St. Louis County Executive Sam Page vetoed a bill that would have hampered his county counselor’s office’s ability to freely hire outside attorneys for legal assistance in court.”

• In South Dakota, “[a] task force assigned to develop possible improvements in providing legal services to indigent people in South Dakota plans a series of public listening sessions in the coming weeks.”

Public Defender Hiring Crisis

• In Connecticut, “[p]ublic defenders in Connecticut could see a pay increase if a new legislative proposal is approved, and officials at the Division of Public Defender Services say the agency would face a crisis without it.”

• In Gwinnett County, GA, “[t]he Georgia Public Defender Council recently awarded them an $83,000 grant to help them recruit more attorneys.”

• In Pennsylvania, “[i]n his first budget as governor, Shapiro, a Democrat, has proposed $10 million of state money to support no-cost legal representation to ‘indigent’ Pennsylvanians….”

• In Hamilton County, TN, “Public Defender Steve Smith on Wednesday asked the County Commission for $741,423 in salaries for 22 lawyers….”

• In Caledonia County, VT, “[a] new law firm will be taking over the public defender contract in Caledonia County by summer.”

Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform

• In the United States, “[t]he Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a revised ‘Dear Colleague’ letter to state and local courts last Thursday, reminding them that their fines and fees practices could be harmful, discriminatory, and potentially in violation of the U.S. Constitution and federal law.”

• In California, “Mano Raju, the elected Public Defender of San Francisco, announced last week his office is co-sponsoring four key California legislative measures in the 2023 legislative session ‘to increase fairness and racial equity in the criminal legal system,’ as stated in the press release.”

• Also in California, “[t]he California Board of State and Community Corrections approved a grant of $2,145,000 over three years to support the Yolo County District Attorney’s Restorative Justice Partnership (RJP) program.”

• In Montana, “[s]ponsored by Rep. Jodee Etchart, R-Billings, at the request of the Montana Department of Justice, HB 112 increases penalties for human trafficking and provides prosecutors more tools to bring traffickers to justice.”

• In Seattle, WA, “Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison, along with Councilmembers Sara Nelson and Alex Pedersen, announced Thursday new legislation regarding the public consumption of controlled substances. The new law would make the public use of drugs a misdemeanor and does not cover drug possession.”

Public Safety

• In Indiana, “[a] new state law makes it illegal for Hoosiers to attach to their firearms a ‘switch,’ or any similar device, that enables fully automatic shooting with a single pull of the trigger.”

• In Washington State, “[a] federal lawsuit [was] filed Tuesday by the Second Amendment Foundation and others, including Vancouver-based gun store Sporting Systems, in response to the Legislature’s passage of a semi-automatic weapons ban….”

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello, interested public!

This week I am flying solo, and there are some big stories being covered. First, the Editor’s Choice this week focuses on the growing situation surrounding Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Second, the Supreme Court has allowed access to the abortion pill mifepristone until it can decide on the case. Third, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner is facing allegations from former staff and the Missouri Attorney General as she tries to implement a progressive prosecutorial mindset in her office. And finally, strides have been made toward greater access to healthcare for immigrants, those seeking abortions, and those seeking gender-affirming care.

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

Happy reading,

Brittany

Editor’s Choice(s)

• To catch everyone up on the latest news involving Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, The Guardian has provided a summary of all of Justice Thomas’s actions that are currently under scrutiny, including a case brought before and amicus briefs submitted to the Supreme Court that involved businesses affiliated with Justice Thomas’s friend and Republican mega-donor Harlan Crow.

• Regarding Congressional action on the judicial ethics questions, “[t]he chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee [(Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill)] on Thursday requested that Chief Justice John Roberts testify at a hearing next month about ethical rules that govern the nation's highest court, a response to recent revelations about Justice Clarence Thomas accepting lavish travel from a GOP megadonor.”

  • Then this morning in Washington D.C., “[Sen. Durbin] made clear his frustration with a continued absence from the panel that has left Democrats unable to [subpoena Chief Justice Roberts for testimony]. ‘It takes a majority,’ Dick Durbin of Illinois said on Thursday. ‘I don’t have a majority.’”

Eye on AI

• In the United States, “[d]ebt collection agencies are already flooding courts and ambushing ordinary people with thousands of low-quality, small-dollar cases. Courts are woefully unprepared for a future where anyone with a chatbot can become a high-volume filer, or where ordinary people might rely on chatbots for desperately-needed legal advice.”

• Also in the United States, “[r]esearch collaborators had deployed GPT-4, the latest generation Large Language Model (LLM), to take—and pass—the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE). GPT-4 didn’t just squeak by. It passed the multiple-choice portion of the exam and both components of the written portion, exceeding not only all prior LLM’s scores, but also the average score of real-life bar exam takers, scoring in the 90th percentile.”

• Also also in the United States, “[a]s the quality of generative AI tools has soared, copyright and other intellectual property (IP) issues around generative AI tools have attracted increased attention…. Now that the initial lawsuits involving these technologies have been filed, these issues may be addressed by the courts for the first time.”

• As new strides are made in discovering the capabilities of AI in the legal professional realm, studies delve into the legal and regulatory implications of using AI appropriately:

  • “Contemporary privacy law does not go far enough to protect our privacy interests, particularly where artificial intelligence and machine learning are concerned….The failure of data deletion to resolve the privacy losses caused by algorithmic shadows highlights the ineffectiveness of data deletion as a right and a remedy.”

  • “The newly developing ‘law of AI’ has come to focus on risk regulation, and in many ways risk regulation seems like a good fit for regulating the development and growing uses of AI systems….[But] risk regulation also comes with…’policy baggage’: known problems that have emerged in other fields.”

  • “Lawyers aren’t supposed to be the Captains of the application of generative AI in the legal industry. A lawyer’s role is more like that of a First Officer, whose responsibility is to assist the primary pilot in getting to the ultimate destination.”

• In California, “[t]he University of California, Berkeley School of Law is among the first law schools to adopt a formal policy on student use of generative artificial intelligence such as ChatGPT.”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In the United States, “[l]egislation introduced last month would restore [GI Bill] benefits to veterans who attended programs that qualified for borrower defense discharges or were found to have defrauded students by state or federal officials.”

Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, & Reproductive Rights

• In the United States, advances in medical reproductive technology may allow for a new method for LGBTQ+ families to have biological children, but there are of course legal and ethical implications.

• In the United States, “[t]he Supreme Court is leaving women’s access to a widely used abortion pill untouched until at least Friday, while the justices consider whether to allow restrictions on the drug mifepristone to take effect.”

• In Colorado, “[a]ccess to abortion and gender-affirming care in Colorado will be bolstered by three Democratic bills signed into law Friday by Gov. Jared Polis.”

  • Relatedly, “[t]he Becket Fund, a Washington, D.C.-based, non-profit law firm, has filed a lawsuit against the state of Colorado on behalf of Bella Heath and Wellness, a Colorado-based Catholic healthcare provider[,]…[arguing that one bill] specifically violates the First Amendment by singling out healthcare clinics that have a religious obligation to provide life-affirming care to pregnant women who seek out their help.”

• In Florida, “Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) announced late Thursday night that he signed a bill into law that would ban abortions in the state after six weeks of pregnancy.”

• In Jackson County, MO, “[a] Kansas City hospital is suing Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey…[for demanding] that the hospital provide records on any prescriptions for hormone blocks as well as surgeries for transgender patients….”

• In North Dakota, “…Gov. Doug Burgum (R) has signed a bill banning gender-affirming care for minors in the state and establishing a penalty of up to 10 years in prison for providers who perform reassignment surgery on youth.”

Immigration & Refugee Issues

• In the United States, “[b]y the end of the month, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is expected to release a proposed rule that would allow DACA recipients to apply for healthcare coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace or through their state Medicaid organization.”

• Also in the United States, “[d]elays in issuing U visas—or even adding applicants to a wait list that comes with those interim benefits—leave victims vulnerable to deportation and workplace exploitation while they wait.”

• In Los Angeles, CA, “[t]he Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to move forward with the implementation of RepresentLA, a $4 million program to provide various legal services to the city’s immigrant community.”

Environmental Crisis

• In the United States, [in accord with a consent decree signed by a federal court, t]he Environmental Protection Agency has agreed to review its regulations on dangerous air pollution from oil and gas equipment.”

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In Broward County, FL, “Coast to Coast Legal Aid of South Florida (CCLA) won the 2023 Non-Profit of the Year Award in the ‘Innovation’ category for its Mobile Justice Squad…[which] has brought legal services directly to senior citizens throughout Broward County.”

• Also in Florida, “[t]he Legislature has signed off on “Greyson’s Law,” a bill that would permit judges to consider an ex-partner’s threats when deciding custody and child visitation.”

• In Maine, “[a] legislative committee has voted down a bill that aimed to help parents navigate their legal rights while under investigation by child protective services.”

• In Michigan, the state Court of Appeals affirmed children’s right to counsel in juvenile court, emphasized the need for children to fully understand what it means to waive their right to counsel, and reaffirmed that a parent cannot waive a child’s right to counsel.

• In Ulster County, NY, “[b]eginning in May, Ulster County residents in danger of being forced from their homes can get free legal representation from Legal Services of the Hudson Valley.”

• In Canada, “…the number of people who are self-represented has grown to the point where approximately 50 per cent of all civil cases in this country involve ‘self-rep.’”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Solano County, CA, “[the] Public Defender’s Office in the coming days will hold the county’s first-ever ‘Clean Slate Day,’ an event that aims to help people clear past records of felony and misdemeanor arrests and convictions.”

• In Colorado, “[a] Garfield County judge failed to follow the proper procedure when he effectively forced a criminal defendant to represent himself at trial, prompting the state's Court of Appeals to reverse the convictions on Thursday.”

• In Jefferson County, FL, “[State Attorney Jack] Campbell confirmed the authenticity of a document…[that] says to exclude those with ‘Extensive Criminal History and/or Hispanic’ from diversion programs, or to have adjudication withheld.”

• In Mississippi, “[t]he state’s highest court approved a mandate on Thursday that criminal defendants who can’t afford their own attorney must always have one before an indictment.”

• In St. Louis County, MO, “St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner could be held in contempt of court after a prosecutor in her office no-showed a murder trial Monday morning.”

  • The prosecutor who did not appear in court was ACA Natalia Ogurkiewicz who “resigned Friday, citing an unbearable work load and a lack of support.”

    • Relatedly, Orgukiewicz alleged that “top staff working for…Gardner regularly make court filings on behalf of lower-level attorneys who have no idea what’s being filed under their name and bar number.”

  • This news occurs days before the first hearing on Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s case seeking to oust Gardner from office.

    • For details on the AG’s complaint against Gardner, “Bailey outlines 10 counts alleging Gardner has performed so poorly that it has left St. Louis residents at risk.”

    • For context regarding Gardner’s controversial politics which have pitted her against the Missouri AG: “Gardner is often associated with the progressive prosecutor movement, a national trend in which, in general, officeholders focus less on low-level crimes and more on diversion programs that help keep people out of jail.”

  • Relatedly, “[a] group of mayors in St. Louis County want the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office combined with the St. Louis County Prosecutor’s Office….[This is] something current prosecutor St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner’s office has opposed.”

• In Oregon, “[l]egislators are considering two bills, including one that would reshape the state’s public defender system[ because]…[t]he shortage of defense lawyers has deprived hundreds of people of their constitutional right to a speedy trial.”

Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform

• In the Washington, D.C., “U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the lead sponsors of the landmark First Step Act (FSA), reintroduced three pieces of criminal justice reform legislation today to further implement the FSA and advance its goals.”

• Following up on last week’s coverage, in Contra Costa County, CA, “Antioch City Council unanimously approved audits of the Police Department’s internal affairs unit, its hiring and promotional practices, and the department’s culture…. “[District Attorney] Becton said she is reviewing cases for potential dismissal or resentencing. It’s unclear how many cases are at stake.”

  • These actions by the City Council and District Attorney follow the release of “[t]he first 21-page report…on April 13, followed by the second 14-page report on Monday [detailing the messages exchanged by Antioch police officers].”

  • Relatedly, “[c]ivil rights attorney John Burris said Wednesday he is planning to file a federal lawsuit against the city of Antioch in the wake of a police texting scandal involving racist, homophobic and threatening text messages.”

• In California, “California legislators are grappling over how to deal with facial recognition technology in policing [as two opposing bills are being discussed.]”

• In Florida, “…Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill Thursday that will no longer require juries agree unanimously to recommend death sentences, reducing the number of jurors need to recommend a death sentence to the lowest threshold of any state with capital punishment.”

• In New York, “New York City will soon consider one of the strictest city-level bans on facial recognition technology under two bills recently introduced by city council members.”

Public Safety

• Following up on last week’s coverage, in Washington State, “a bill [was passed] to ensure that gun manufacturers and dealers must take reasonable steps to prevent their products from getting into the hands of those that the state determines are dangerous individuals….”

• In Nebraska, “Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine says he has concerns about LB77. The bill removes concealed carry requirements for most Nebraskans, which means no special permits or training.”

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello, interested public!

With another absolutely packed digest, you’re getting a two-person effort this week. This is the last time you’ll be hearing from me for awhile; I’m taking some time between now and June to take care of my newborn daughter. I’m thrilled, though, to welcome back PSJD alum Brittany Valente (our 2019-2021 PSJD Fellow), who will be serving on a part-time basis as NALP’s Interim Public Service Coordinator in my absence. Most of this week’s edition is her work; I’ve merely filled in some last minute gaps after her shift ended this morning.

Over to you, Brittany!
Sam
—

Hello, interested public!

This week I have taken up the momentous task of providing you with this week’s public interest news highlights. There’s a lot that’s happened, particularly in the realm of reproductive rights. Notably, lots of state officials are taking stances against a Texas judge’s decision to ban the abortion pill. Additionally, Michigan has implemented new gun control laws. And the Biden Administration has officially ended the COVID-19 emergency, which is having big and unknown effects of federal telework arrangements and pandemic-related federal policies and programs.

As always, these stories and more are in the links below. It’s great to connect with you all again, and I hope you are enlightened by this week’s selection.

Happy reading,

Brittany

Editor’s Choice(s)

• In North Carolina, “[s]tudents at North Carolina’s flagship public university walked out of class Thursday to protest school officials’ decision to ban a law school student from campus after she was charged with domestic terrorism last month following a violent protest over a planned Atlanta-area police and firefighter training center that activists derisively call ‘Cop City.’…Marsicano’s attorney, Erin King, has said the charge against her client is baseless, noting that, by prosecutors’ own admission, authorities do not have any evidence directly tying Marsicano to the scene.” [charges related to this protest have been covered in previous editions of the digest]

  • Relatedly, “[t]he state of Texas is updating its bar application to include questions about whether applicants have engaged in “incivility and violations of school policies,” according to a letter from the Texas Supreme Court obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. The change is a direct response to an incident at Stanford Law School last month in which students shouted down a federal judge.”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In the United States, “The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday refused to halt a legal settlement that would erase more than $6 billion in debt owed by former students…who have said they were misled by schools about academics and job prospects….[This] decision was separate from [the] case…over the legality of President Joe Biden’s plan to cancel $430 billion in student debt for about 40 million borrowers.”

• Also in the United States, “The Biden Administration has quietly updated the process borrowers can use to apply for a key federal student loan forgiveness program geared toward people who work in public service careers. The change may ultimately make it easier for borrowers to request relief and reduce the chances that an application gets rejected.”

• Also also in the United States, “…16 senators…[sent] a letter to the…Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies requesting the committee provide $2.7 billion in Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 to fund the Office of Federal Student Aid….”

• In California, “If a student owes their private or public university money, the school can withhold their degree or prevent the student from enrolling in classes….[A newly introduced bill] would prohibit California schools from withholding degrees or certificates from students it they owe [institutional debt].”

• In Indiana, “Notre Dame Law School is implementing dramatic improvements to its [LRAP] that will make the program more generous and cover many more J.D. graduates who pursue careers in public interest law and government.”

• In Virginia, “The University of Virginia School of Law is expanding its loan forgiveness program this year so that more graduates will be eligible for greater benefits.”

• In British Columbia, “…students will soon have access to additional funds as part of their student loans for the first time since 2006…[as part of a] boost to students’ maximum payments[.]…[Minister of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills, Selina Robinson stated,] ‘This is an immediate-term action to make education more accessible….”

Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity Rights

• In the United States, “[a] newly formed group launched two weeks ago seeks to help transgender Americans escape the United States. Nearly three dozen applicants have already sought assistance emigrating from the country or obtaining asylum.”

• In Waco TX, “[a] justice of the peace asked the Texas Supreme Court to revive a lawsuit she brought against the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct for publicly warning her for refusing to perform same-sex marriages[.]”

Immigration & Refugee Issues

• In New Brunswick, “[s]ome people seeking refuge have had to start their asylum application without a lawyer after being transferred to New Brunswick from Quebec — where they’d crossed into Canada from the U.S. via Roxham Road.” [See previous editions of the Digest for earlier coverage of this issue.]

Reproductive Rights

• In the United States, “[a]ccess to the most commonly used method of abortion in the U.S. plunged into uncertainty Friday following conflicting court rulings over the legality of the abortion medication mifepristone that has been widely available for more than 20 years…U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee, ordered a hold on federal approval of mifepristone in a decision that overruled decades of scientific approval. But that decision came at nearly the same time that U.S. District Judge Thomas O. Rice, an Obama appointee, essentially ordered the opposite and directed U.S. authorities not to make any changes that would restrict access to the drug in at least 17 states where Democrats sued in an effort to protect availability.”

  • The dueling decisions prompted statements from the highest levels of state governments giving their perspective on the legality of the drug:

    • In New York, AG Letitia James stated that “[t]oday’s decision blatantly disregards decades of medical research for politically motivated reasons that will jeopardize the health of millions of people nationwide…[A]bortion continues to be legal in New York and New York will remain a safe haven for anyone seeking abortion care. The fight for reproductive justice is not over. New York will continue to do everything within its power to protect reproductive rights, because it should always be your body, and your choice.”

    • In Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer stated that, “[d]espite this ruling, I want to be clear: abortion, including medication abortion, remains safe and legal in the state of Michigan[.]”

    • In Connecticut, AG William Tong stated that “medication abortion remains legal and accessible in Connecticut.”

    • In Maine, Gov. Janet Mills stated that “[w]hile the Fifth Circuit continues its consideration of the Texas decision, my Administration is closely monitoring the Federal case in Washington. If that Judge reaffirms his ruling that mifepristone must remain available in the plaintiff states, including Maine, as I believe he should, then the restrictions imposed by the Fifth Circuit will not apply in Maine and access to mifepristone will remain fully legal and available as it should until a higher court says otherwise.”

    • In Arizona, AG Kris Mayes stated that “I want to assure Arizonans that legal access to the drug remains available for providers and patients in this state.”

  • At the federal level:

    • US Dept. of Health and Human Services Sec. Xavier Becerra stated that, “We will vigorously fight this unprecedented decision in court. We have appealed the decision and will seek a stay…Separately, another temporary order issued today in Washington State seeks to maintain access to mifepristone by directing the FDA not to take action to alter the status quo as it relates to the availability of mifepristone under the REMS in certain states. We are reviewing that decision.”

    • US AG Merrick Garland stated that “[t]he Justice Department strongly disagrees with the court’s unprecedented decision to do that in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA. We therefore appealed the decision, and we filed a motion for a stay pending that appeal.”

    • Meanwhile, “[a] number of Democrats, including [NY Rep. Alexandria] Ocasio-Cortez, have floated the idea of the Biden administration not adhering to the ruling from the federal judge in Texas…’The idea of consistency in governance until there is a higher court ruling is not an unprecedented thing to happen.’ [Ocasio-Cortez said].”

      • Relatedly, “Rep. Nancy Mace [R-SC] told CNN [that] ‘It’s not up to us to decide as legislators or even, you know, as the court system whether this is the right drug to use or not…I agree with ignoring it at this point,’ [] putting herself in an odd alliance with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez[.]”

• In Washington DC, “[t]he White House on Wednesday announced a federal agency will help stand up a national hotline to provide counseling to individuals seeking abortions and other family planning services, part of a Biden administration push to expand options as many states restrict abortion access.”

• Also in Washington DC, “[t]he Biden administration…proposed revisions to privacy laws for people who facilitate or receive [abortions, c]oncerned about some state efforts to criminalize abortion within their borders as well as outside them[.]”

• In Montana, “Planned Parenthood of Montana filed a preemptive lawsuit [] seeking to stop legislation that would ban the abortion method most commonly used in the second trimester, arguing the proposed law is unconstitutional.”

• In Idaho, “[t]wo days after being hit with a lawsuit over a legal opinion that said Idaho’s abortion ban prohibits medical providers from referring patients out-of-state for abortion services, the state’s attorney general said ][ that he is rescinding the analysis.” [See previous editions of the Digest for earlier coverage of this issue.]

• In Iowa, “[t]he Iowa Supreme Court weighed whether to lift a lower court injunction on the state’s fetal heartbeat abortion restriction[.]”

Environmental Crisis

• Globally, The American Prospect described how “[l]ocal officials, civil engineers, and homeowners describe a growing need for information on exposure to the risks of extreme weather…[while f]inancial markets and private companies [] are in an ‘arms race’ for climate intelligence…Regulators, struggling to keep up, have asked for more disclosure…Physical scientists interviewed by the Prospect raised concerns about claims made by some of these firms, most of which are led and heavily staffed not by climate scientists but by lawyers, marketing specialists, public-policy experts, and economists.

  Meanwhile, the federal government is seeking precise estimates of global warming’s economic impacts. But there too, the demand for certainty can leave regulators crafting exercises that create a false sense of security, relying on risk modelers who are selling precision in an inherently imprecise business, and formulating questions that sound technical but convey little meaningful information.”

  • Relatedly, in Washington DC “[t]he World Bank is currently undergoing a year-long review of its processes with an eye towards finalizing reforms in the fall, and the IMF is working to incorporate climate change into their operations…Climate policy experts would like to see these institutions dramatically increase their lending for climate purposes as the core of these reforms. That increased lending, they hope, would in turn get “blended” with private sector investment to unlock trillions of dollars in finance for climate projects in developing economies.”

Immigration & Refugee Issues

• In the United States, “[t]he Biden administration next week will begin conducting asylum interviews at the border while it expands access to legal services for migrants seeking refuge in the U.S., according to two administration officials. The latter a key issue that emerged during attempts to fast-track processing under the Trump administration.”

  • Relatedly, the American Immigration Council referred to this plan as “a successor to a pair of programs the Trump administration used in 2019 and early 2020…Known as the Prompt Asylum Claim Review (PACR) and the Humanitarian Asylum Review Process (HARP), both programs sought to deport certain asylum seekers within 10 days of their crossing into the U.S…Asylum officers conducted “credible fear interviews” from phone booths in the Border Patrol facility—just as the Biden administration plans to do now.”

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In the United States, “Maine join[ed] Oregon, Georgia and North Dakota in eyeing changes to how lawyers are admitted to practice[.]”

  • In Maine, specifically, “If the bill passes, lawyers could still use a law school degree as a qualification for the bar — but other options would be available such as studying law in a practicing attorney’s firm for a number of years. [Bill sponsor Rep. David] Boyer says, if passed, he hopes his bill will alleviate some of the state’s lawyer shortages by making the profession more accessible.”

• In Washington DC, “[t]he District of Columbia courts system announced the hiring of its first-ever pro bono program manager two weeks ago[.] Jodi Feldman, who most recently was managing attorney for the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia, told Law360 that she plans to use her new role and her passion for pro bono services to bridge the gap between lawyers who want to help and litigants who need legal services. Currently, there’s a disconnect between those two communities that needs to be fixed, she said.”

• In British Columbia, “[the Provincial] government has announced a $1-million funding boost for Rise Women’s Legal Centre, aimed at providing more low-income women and gender-diverse people access to free legal services.”

• In Alaska, “Senate Bill 104, discussed by the Senate Finance Committee[], would direct 25% of the Alaska Court System’s filing fees to the Alaska Legal Services Corporation, up from 10% in an existing state law.”

• In Indiana, “a growing number of [] counties are finding ways to connect [pro se] litigants with legal assistance [via self-help centers.]”

• Also in Indiana, “[Indiana Supreme Court Justices] approved the amendment to Rule 6.7(a0 of the [state’s] Rules of Professional Conduct[;] Indiana attorneys will be required to report their pro bono services specifically to ‘public service or charitable groups or organizations[.]’”

• In Orleans County NY, “[the] County Legislature has authorized forming a committee to look at the potential implementation of a district court in the county, with the issue possibly going to a public vote in November.”

• In Winston-Salem NC, “[residents] who are facing eviction may qualify for free legal help through the Right-to-Counsel program.”

• In Jersey City NJ, “[t]he Jersey City Council approved two ordinances to establish a right to counsel for tenants facing eviction, as well as establishing a mechanism for developers to cover the costs.” [See previous editions of the digest for earlier reporting on this issue.]

• In Bakersfield CA, “[t]he advocacy group Legal Counsel for Justice & Accountability is raising awareness around Bakersfield for “Right to Counsel” as housing availability remains sparse. If the City of Bakersfield were to adopt a “Right to Counsel” program, the group says every tenant in Bakersfield will have the ability to attain legal representation if they faced an eviction or ‘landlord intimidation.’”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Colorado, “a majority of the Colorado Supreme Court ruled [that t]here is no constitutional right for indigent criminal defendants to go to trial with their preferred public defender, even though defendants who are wealthy enough to hire an attorney do enjoy that ability[.]”

• In Chatham County GA, “[a] motion filed by the [] County Public Defender claims the county jail is denying inmates ‘meaningful access’ to their defense attorneys.”

• In Caledonia VT, “[t]he public defender’s office [is] shutting down due to staffing issues[.]”

• In British Columbia, “the Province has launched a new cross-ministry Indigenous Justice Secretariat, a commitment outlined in the BC First Nations Justice Strategy [t]o better address the overrepresentation of Indigenous Peoples in the justice system and Indigenous children and youth in care[.]” [See previous editions of the Digest for earlier reporting on this issue.]

Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform

• In New York State, “New York prison officials were accused in a lawsuit of subjecting people to prolonged solitary confinement in violation of a state law meant to strictly limit a practice increasingly criticized as inhumane.”

• In Illinois, The Center Square looked back on three-years of non-profit driven cannabis expungements in the state: “[w]ith the support of state funding, the Illinois Equal Justice Foundation (IEJF) created New Leaf Illinois, a network of legal aid organizations providing free or low-cost legal support around the state….New Leaf provides a form for interested persons with past marijuana convictions. If a person qualifies, their record will go to the Illinois Prisoner Review Board, who then can recommend that the governor grant a pardon authorizing expungement.”

  • Relatedly, “[w]ith the unofficial ‘4/20’ holiday just over a week away, legal aid organizations sought to remind state residents that they might still have cannabis offenses on their records even though tens of thousands of convictions were expunged automatically by sweeping moves mandated by the state’s marijuana laws[.]”

• In Florida, “[a]fter an emotional debate, a House panel approved a measure that would bar defense attorneys from deposing sexual assault victims younger than 18, absent a showing of good cause.”

• In Orange County CA, “[a] state appeals court has reignited a retired professor’s taxpayer lawsuit against Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer – and his office’s controversial program collecting people’s DNA in exchange for dropping misdemeanor charges like petty theft.”

• In Contra Costa County CA, “[a]fter an investigation revealed that Antioch Police Department officers had allegedly used racist language in texts, the Contra Costa County Public Defender told KRON4 that all of the cases the department has been involved in will need to be reviewed.”

• In Franklin County OH, “County Prosecutor Gary Tyack announced [] that his office has established a Conviction Integrity Unit to review claims of innocence and wrongful convictions in felony cases.”

• Meanwhile, in Michigan, “[t]he convictions of an anticipated 1 million Michigan residents will be automatically expunged thanks to a 2020 law that went into effect Tuesday, April 11.”

Public Safety (COVID and Firearms)

• In the United States, “President Biden signed a bill Monday ending the COVID-19 national emergency…[but it is] unclear what immediate effect [this] will have on linked US policies, such as immigration policy and [Biden’s] student debt forgiveness plan.”

  • Relatedly, “[Following the end of the COVID-19 national emergency, t]he Biden administration on Thursday announced new measures to scale back telework at federal agencies,…[which has caught] some federal employee groups and agency HR officials off guard.”

• In New York, “The Commission to Reimagine the Future of New York’s Courts recently issued…a report summarizing the challenges and opportunities associated with remote court operations…. The findings from this report confirmed…[that] innovation and technology are key drivers to improving accessibility to the civil justice system.”

• In Michigan, “Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed gun violence prevention bills into law … [that would require] universal background checks and safe storage[. This law follows] two mass shootings [that] happened within 15 months of each other.”

  • Relatedly, “[Muskegon County Prosector DJ Hilson stated,] ‘It does create a deeper records database as it relates to those who are purchasing firearms….”

• In Washington State, “59% of voters surveyed…supported…[l]egislation that would…hold irresponsible gun dealers and manufacturers civilly liable for the harms their products cause[.]”

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello, interested public! Lots of big news stories this week, especially out of Ottawa, where the federal privacy commissioner launched an investigation into OpenAI out of privacy concerns, and Washington DC, where Senator Van Hollen announced a new effort to force the U.S. Supreme Court to adopt binding ethics rules after recent revelations from Pro Publica about gifts accepted by Justice Clarence Thomas. Meanwhile, the right to counsel in eviction picked up a few additional jurisdictions while New York debated a first-in-the-nation bill to create a right to counsel in immigration proceedings.

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

Take care of one another,

Sam

Editor’s Choice(s)

• In Nashville TN, “[t]wo Democratic members of the Tennessee House of Representatives [who are Black] [were] expelled while a third member [who is white] was spared in an ousting by Republican lawmakers that was decried by the trio as oppressive, vindictive and racially motivated…Protesters packed the state Capitol on Thursday to denounce the expulsions of Reps. Justin Jones and Rep. Justin Pearson and to advocate for gun reform measures a little over a week after a mass shooting devastated a Nashville school.”

• In Washington DC, “[a] key Democratic senator plans to use Congress’s power of the purse to pressure the Supreme Court to adopt a code of conduct as the justices come under increasing scrutiny for not having clear ethics rules in place. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the court’s budget, told The Early that he will use his spending bill this year to try to force the justices to adhere to an enforceable ethics code — similar to the one that applies to federal judges.”

  • Relatedly, Pro Publica reported that “[f]or more than two decades, [Associate U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence] Thomas has accepted luxury trips virtually every year from [] Dallas businessman [and Republican megadonor Harlan Crow] without disclosing them, documents and interviews show…The extent and frequency of Crow’s apparent gifts to Thomas have no known precedent in the modern history of the U.S. Supreme Court. These trips appeared nowhere on Thomas’ financial disclosures. His failure to report the flights appears to violate a law passed after Watergate that requires justices, judges, members of Congress and federal officials to disclose most gifts, two ethics law experts said.”

Eye on AI

• In Canada, “[t]he federal privacy commissioner has launched an investigation into the company behind ChatGPT, an explosively popular artificial intelligence-powered chatbot. The watchdog's office announced Tuesday that it is initiating the investigation into the U.S.-based company OpenAI because it received a complaint alleging ‘the collection, use and disclosure of personal information without consent.’”

  • Relatedly, “Iowa became the sixth state to pass a comprehensive privacy law, joining Connecticut, Utah, Virginia, Colorado, and California.”

• Also in Canada, Kitchener City News reported that “a number of legal experts [] suggest, much the same as generative AI has led to a rise in cheating concerns in academia, it could also be used to try and cheat the legal system.”

• In the United States, “the EEOC [] published a guidance titled ‘The Americans with Disabilities Act and the Use of Software, Algorithms, and Artificial Intelligence to Assess Job Applicants and Employees.’”

• Also in the United States, “[President] Biden said [] it remains to be seen whether artificial intelligence (AI) is dangerous, but underscored that technology companies had a responsibility to ensure their products were safe before making them public.”

• In Australia, “[a] regional Australian mayor said he may sue OpenAI if it does not correct ChatGPT's false claims that he had served time in prison for bribery, in what would be the first defamation lawsuit against the automated text service.”

• In the world of business, “[a]s artificial intelligence pushes deeper into the legal industry, Fastcase and vLex are merging in a deal the legal research companies said [] will speed up the creation of AI tools for lawyers. London-based private equity firm Oakley Capital and Bain Capital Credit, part of global investment firm Bain Capital, are investing an undisclosed amount into the combined company, which will be named vLex Group.”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In the United States, “[m]illions of Gen Z grads have never had to pay their monthly student loan bill, considering that federal payments have been paused for more than three years. That will change soon–and it will be a ‘shock’ for many household budgets.”

• Also in the United States, “[a]fter a federal appeals court denied a bid from some colleges to stop a settlement from moving forward in a class action lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education regarding stalled borrower defense to repayment claims, those colleges are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene.”

Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity Rights

• In Washington DC, “[t]he Supreme Court…denied West Virginia’s request to let it fully enforce a state law that bans transgender women and girls from participating on public school sports teams consistent with their gender identity.”

• Also in Washington DC, “[t]he Biden administration proposed a rule change on Thursday that would allow schools to block some transgender athletes from competing on sports teams that match their gender identities. But the proposal would also prevent schools from enacting across-the-board bans.”

  • Relatedly, “In his first joint address to Congress, President Joe Biden [in 2021] sent an unequivocal message to the transgender community: ‘To all transgender Americans watching at home, especially the young people. You’re so brave. I want you to know your president has your back.’”

• In Tennessee, “[a] federal judge in Tennessee has blocked the state’s anti-drag law from going into effect for now. The law, which restricts drag performances, was signed into law last month by Republican Gov. Bill Lee. It passed along with a bill banning gender-affirming care for youth.”

Reproductive Rights

• In Washington State, “a Washington-based legal advocacy group is telling some abortion providers, [“don’t vacation in Idaho”] because of a just-passed Idaho bill criminalizing ‘recruiting, harboring or transporting’ minors for abortions without parental consent…[T]he bill has opened a Pandora’s box of questions as more abortion patients come to Washington from Idaho, as well as other states with bans on terminating pregnancies.”

Environmental Crisis

• In Albany NY, “[u]nder pressure from scientists, environmentalists and lawmakers, Gov. Kathy Hochul backed off [] from a proposal to rewrite the state’s landmark climate law — an effort that her critics said would have fundamentally undermined the measure.”

• In Montana, “[a] pair of bills seeking to restrict nonprofit groups’ access to litigation by changing how they’re taxed and how they can use the Montana Environmental Policy Act cleared the Montana Senate this week.”

Immigration & Refugee Issues

• In New York, “[e]lected officials, including State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, last Tuesday joined the CARE for Immigrant Families Coalition at the Million Dollar Staircase in Albany to urge passage of the Access to Representation Act (ARA)…CARE for Immigrant Families said the first-in-the-nation bill would establish a right to counsel in immigration court proceedings.”

• In Washington DC, “[t]he Biden administration told a D.C. federal judge that no constitutional right to counsel exists for detained immigrants in bond proceedings as it tries to undercut what remains of a lawsuit alleging several immigration detention centers are hindering attorney access.”

Non-Profit & Government Management & Hiring

• In Washington DC, Government Executive noted that “[President Biden’s proposed 5.2% pay raise for federal workers] if enacted, [] would actually be the biggest since 1980 [but because] inflation [is] running at 6%…after more than a year [] between 7% to 9%…if feds actually wind up getting a 5.2% pay hike, by the time it takes effect in the first paycheck of the new year after a hike is approved–feds might lose rather than gain in the neighborhood of a nickel per dollar of buying power, compared with 2022. [And t]hen, there’s the fact that annual pay adjustments have lost steadily–and significantly–for years versus even modest inflation.”

• Also in Washington DC, “[t]he State Department is not backing down from its commitment to protect the ‘dissent channel’ established for its career diplomats, telling lawmakers that complying with their subpoena would violate the trust the agency has established with its workforce. The union that represents career Foreign Service officers [warned] that betraying that trust would make employees think twice before conveying their honest professional opinions. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee [had] issued the subpoena for the dissent channel cable written by State employees in July 2021 allegedly warning of potential governmental collapse in Afghanistan.”

• Again also in Washington DC, “[t]he Biden administration will later this week release its detailed plan for spending the unprecedented $80 billion cash infusion for the Internal Revenue Service, with its new leader promising less wait time for customer service, better tracking of returns and additional crackdowns on wealthy tax cheats.”

• Also again also in Washington DC, “[t]he embattled Homeland Security watchdog and other officials filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against the federal watchdog council, taking aim at what they say are ‘vexatious’ investigations into them and their structure. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, alleges that for three years Inspector General Joseph Cuffari ‘has been endlessly harassed and had his office’s resources drained by a series of baseless inquiries headed by the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency’s Integrity Committee,’ said the New Civil Liberties Alliance, a nonprofit civil rights group that seeks to reign in unlawful powers from federal and state agencies, which is representing the plaintiffs.”

• Again also again also in Washington DC, “an analysis by University of Iowa law professor Derek Muller [has found that a]mong the 36 clerks hired by active [U.S. Supreme Court] judges for the upcoming October 2023 term, more than 80% have two or even three previous clerkships under their belt[.]”

• Also again also again also in Washington DC, “[s]ecurity clearance reform efforts made another step toward transparency and clarity with an announcement last week that reporting figures from the Office of Management and Budget will now include figures for all security clearance investigations.”

• In Bridgewater Township NJ, “[a] state Appellate Court has agreed with Bridgewater Township that it doesn't have to disclose residents' email addresses to a non-government organization that wants to send unsolicited emails to them to advance the organization's political and social objectives. Rise Against Hate, a Cherry Hill-based nonprofit with the goal of raising awareness about racism and civil rights, filed suit against Bridgewater in Superior Court in Somerville, claiming that the township violated the state Open Public Records Act (OPRA) by not disclosing the email addresses of residents who signed up to receive newsletters and notices from the municipality.”

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In Jersey City NJ, “Mayor Steven Fulop, along with council members James Solomon, Frank Gilmore, and Yousef J. Saleh, said they will support ‘one of the strongest right-to-counsel laws in the nation’ for tenants facing eviction. And it will be paid for by developers who contribute to an affordable housing trust, they said.”

• In New York, “[a] bill being considered in advance of [the state’s] upcoming budget deadline aims to [guarantee] tenants' right to counsel in eviction proceedings across the state.”

• Also in New York, “[f]amily court lawyers representing children are urging Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers to address a funding shortage that has led to stagnant salaries and widespread departures, depriving the most vulnerable New Yorkers of their right to proper counsel and timely services.”

• In Quebec, “Legal aid lawyers [went] strike in several regions of Quebec[], including Montreal.”

• In Long Beach CA, “[the city] has extended a contract with Los Angeles County and an LA nonprofit to provide free legal services for low-income folks facing eviction and other rental-related issues…until June 30.”

• In Alaska, “[a] state senator wants to direct a larger share of filing fees paid to the court system toward a nonprofit legal aid organization that helps several thousand Alaskans a year with their domestic violence, family law, housing, elder advocacy and other cases.”

• In British Columbia, “the BC First Nations Justice Council announced five new Indigenous Justice Centres that are being built across the province, in Kelowna, Surrey, Vancouver, Victoria and Nanaimo.”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Alabama, “it’s not just an increase in cases; a nationwide shortage of prosecutors is also fueling the delays…Montgomery County currently has almost 300 cases pending. The pandemic really hurt an already overloaded system[, and] Montgomery District Attorney Daryl Bailey says prosecutors deal with much more than just the workload. ‘What we have noticed is that there are a lot of suicides are up among prosecutors. Prosecutors are leaving the profession,’ said Bailey…Now serving as the Alabama District Attorney’s Association president, Bailey says the lower numbers were at the top of the agenda at a recent national meeting [of the NDAA].”

• In Arkansas, “[s]tate public defenders are asking a federal judge to abstain from hearing a lawsuit over whether criminal defendants should be provided a lawyer at first appearance and bond hearings. The public defenders argue two cases in state court could resolve the issue sooner.”

Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform

• In New Haven CT, “[f]ive students in the Yale Law School’s Strategic Advocacy Clinic were recognized with the Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking’s Manolo Sanchez Prize for their work aimed at reducing incarceration due to a failure to pay fines. The $25,000 award recognizes outstanding achievement by a for-profit or non-profit startup that aims to improve financial justice.”

• In Washington State, “[a] proposal to create a statewide independent prosecutor’s office to review police use of force didn’t garner enough support [] to receive funding. Groups like the Washington Coalition for Police Accountability have long argued that prosecutors rubber-stamp deadly uses of force, in part because they rely on local agencies and their investigations.”

• In Florida, “[t]he Senate Rules Committee unanimously advanced a measure (SB 384) that would [] add defense lawyers and public defenders to the list of people upon whom an attack during a criminal court proceeding is a felony. [The list currently includes prosecutors, judges, baliffs, law enforcement officers and corrections officers.]”

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello, interested public! Lots of big news stories again this week. While some legal aid organizations are moving to capitalize on AI-powered tools, regulators in Italy have temporarily banned OpenAI’s ChatGPT based on an “absence of any legal basis that justifies [its] massive collection and storage of personal data to ‘train’ the chatbot[.]” Meanwhile, the United States and Canada revealed a major revision to their joint asylum policies that advocates warn will make asylum seeking more dangerous–and asylum officers called the Biden administration’s recent changes to the asylum process its “contrary to the moral fabric of our nation.” In South Carolina, the NAACP sued the state’s Attorney General in an attempt to defend its limited legal advice program from regulations aimed at the unauthorized practice of law.

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

Take care of one another,

Sam

Editor’s Choice(s)

• In Ohio, “DOJ, on behalf of the EPA, has sued Norfolk Souther for the East Palestine derailment under the Clean Water Act.”

Dueling Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence

• Law360 published an article examining how “with access to e-discovery technology used by the biggest law firms and corporations, including the latest advancements in artificial intelligence, legal aid organizations can review documents faster, keep track of information more efficiently, handle higher case volumes, take on more complex cases and be better prepared to take cases to court.”

• Meanwhile in the US and Europe, “civil society groups have urged in a coordinated pushback against [OpenAI’s GPT and ChatGPT]’s rapid proliferation [that a]uthorities in the U.S. and Europe should act quickly to protect people against threats posed by OpenAI’s GPT and ChatGPT artificial intelligence models[;] the U.S.’s Center for AI and Digital Policy (CAIDP) filed a formal complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, calling on the agency to ‘halt further commercial deployment of GPT by OpenAI’ until safeguards have been put in place to stop ChatGPT from deceiving people and perpetuating biases.” (formal complaint available from the organization’s website)

  • Relatedly, “Italy’s Data Protection Authority…temporarily banned OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot and launched a probe over a suspected breach of the artificial intelligence application's data collection rules…ChatGPT has an ‘absence of any legal basis that justifies the massive collection and storage of personal data’ to ‘train’ the chatbot, [the agency] said. OpenAI has 20 days to respond with remedies or could risk a fine of up to 4% of its annual worldwide turnover.”

• Relatedly, in Waterloo ON, “a University of Waterloo expert in ethics, law and technology [says c]ourts are not equipped to detect the fake video and audio evidence that will contaminate the justice system thanks to advances in artificial technology[.]”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In Washington DC, “U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona issued the following statement after Republicans introduced a congressional review act (CRA) to put a stop to the one-time debt relief plan that would benefit millions of working families: ‘Instead of working to support hardworking students and borrowers, Republicans in Congress would rather give trillions of dollars in tax breaks to the super wealthy and the biggest corporations. The Biden-Harris Administration will continue to fight to deliver much-needed support to borrowers trying to get back on their feet after the economic crisis caused by the pandemic.’”

• Also in Washington DC, the National Director of the NAACP’s Youth & College Division joined “a delegation of student loan borrowers from Howard University united with student debt cancellation advocates to support the fight against attempts to restrict [education as a key to financial freedom], stating ‘[t]he NAACP will continue to do everything in our power to ensure the economic mobility of the 40+ million Americans depending on the survival of this Student Debt Cancellation program.’”

• Again also in Washington DC, “[n]early half a million people have been approved for federal student loan forgiveness under a one-time waiver program geared toward borrowers working in public service jobs.”

• In Connecticut, “lawmakers are considering legislation that would give a student debt reimbursement of up to $20,000.”

Immigration & Refugee Issues

• In the United States & Canada, “[h]uman rights activists and immigration advocates expressed concerns over a new immigration deal between Canada and the United States that allows either country to turn away asylum-seekers who reach the border at unofficial crossings…Under the previous migration pact, U.S. and Canadian officials were able to turn back asylum-seekers in both directions at formal points of entry, but this did not apply to unofficial crossings. Canada had been pressing the United States to expand the deal, called the Safe Third Country Agreement, to include unofficial crossings…Critics of the deal say asylum-seekers will still attempt to cross the border but now will try to do so undetected and in more dangerous ways.”

  • Relatedly, in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, “[a]fter moving thousands of asylum seekers from Quebec to Ontario, the federal government relocated some 241 asylum seekers to the Atlantic provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia [but r]efugee claims are ineligible for legal aid in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, leaving some claimants who cannot afford their own lawyer without representation. New Brunswick’s immigration minister said in a statement the province is working to change this.”

• In Washington DC, “[t]he Biden’s administration’s plan to severely restrict asylum approvals is drawing outcry from the Homeland Security Department employees who would implement the policy, with the staffers calling it unlawful and ‘contrary to the moral fabric of our nation.’ Asylum personnel said they would have to violate their oaths to carry out the yet-to-be-implemented policy. They have voiced their concerns to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service leadership, who told them at a recent town hall that, assuming the proposal is finalized, they can either follow the guidance or find a new job.”

Non-Profit & Government Management & Hiring

• In Washington DC, the Partnership for Public Service “released its first batch of rankings stemming from its annual analysis of the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, revealing that even some of the best performing agencies struggled with federal employee morale in 2022.”

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In Montana, in a “new program, called [the Tribal Advocate Incubator Project], the Montana Legal Services Association [has] partnered with tribal courts statewide to recruit, train, mentor and support people to become tribal lay advocates.”

• In Denver CO, the University of Denver’s Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System published a report on unbundled legal services.

• In South Carolina, the “State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) sued the state's attorney general in federal court in Charleston[], arguing that applying South Carolina's unauthorized practice of law rules to its planned program would violate speech and association rights protected by the First Amendment. The group is asking the court to bar the state from enforcing the rules against its efforts to give "free, accurate and limited legal advice" to help low-income South Carolinians, the lawsuit said.”

• In New York NY, “[p]laintiffs have filed two putative class action complaints in 2023, alleging violations of New York City’s relatively new biometric information privacy law, signaling a new potential avenue for class action plaintiffs’ lawyer to seek statutory damages from companies that collect, use, or store biometric information of their customers, consumers, and members of the general public. Given the law’s provision for recovery of $500 to $5,000 per violation, combined with potentially enormous classes, it is imperative that companies take efforts to comply with its requirements.”

  • Relatedly, in Washington DC “the CFPB issued a Request for Information (RFI) about data broker business practices to inform planned rulemaking under the FCRA and provide the CFPB with insight into the full scope of the data broker industry. In particular, CFPB is seeking information about (i) new business models that sell consumer data and (ii) consumer harm and market abuses. The RFI applies to first-party data brokers that interact directly with consumers as well as third-party data brokers with no direct relationship with consumers.”

• Also in New York NY, “[t]he Adams administration had difficulty answering questions about the city’s struggling Right to Counsel program during a City Council oversight hearing[.]”

• In Los Angeles CA, the “City Council unanimously approved a motion…instructing its Department of Housing to create recommendations for the establishment of a right to counsel ordinance and program for tenants facing eviction in the city.”

• In Harris County TX, county government “will soon launch a program to provide free legal counseling to residents facing eviction.”

• In Baltimore MD, “[t]o help families hold onto their homes, Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service (MVLS) in partnership with the Pro Bono Resource Center of Maryland and Stop Oppressive Seizures (SOS) Fund, will host three free tax sale prevention clinics to help struggling homeowners.”

• In Nova Scotia, “Justice Minister Brad Johns says officials in his department are reviewing the fees paid to lawyers who take on legal-aid work. ‘We recognize that they're below the average, that they are low,’ Johns said in an interview at Province House in Halifax…’They haven't been reviewed since 2014 so we're hoping to do that.’”

• In Maine, the Senior Associate Justice of the state’s Supreme Judicial Court argued that, “[c]ivil legal services are at the very heart of the goal of justice for all. We must invest in both our public defense system and our civil legal aid infrastructure. Without access to legal counsel in both kinds of cases, those who can’t afford a lawyer are at an unfair disadvantage as they attempt to navigate the legal landscape.”

  • Relatedly, the Portland Press Herald’s Editorial Board argued that “[while l]egislators are struggling to fix an indigent criminal defense program that they've allowed to fall apart[, work f]illing the gaps in aid for civil complaints, however, is much easier. A bill before the Legislature, L.D. 564, is asking for $11.2 million over the next two years, to be distributed through the Civil Legal Defense Fund, which supports the work of providers of civil legal services in Maine…these organizations provide crucial legal aid to tens of thousands of Mainers in every county every year.”

  • Relatedly, the Editorial Board of the Bangor Daily News argued that while “Maine’s chronic shortage of attorneys for low-income criminal defendants has rightly gotten a lot of attention[,] Maine also faces a critical shortage of lawyers to represent low-income Mainers in civil cases, such as those involving evictions, protection from abuse and discrimination…Additional state support for civil legal aid would be a good investment.”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Kentucky, the “governor vetoed a bill that would have merged Louisville's Public Defender's Office with Kentucky's Department of Public Advocacy.”

• In Mercer County OH, “[a] criminal defense attorney with about a decade of local legal experience has been named Mercer County's first public defender.”

• In North Carolina, “[t]he House budget unveiled by Republican leaders Wednesday night would provide funding to establish new public defender offices serving eight counties across North Carolina, an infusion of funds to ensure poor people charged with crimes are adequately represented in court. But despite that there are such offices in less than half of the state’s 100 counties, lawmakers did not consider fully funding public defenders across North Carolina.”

• In Pennsylvania, the chief defender for the Defender Association of Philadelphia argued that despite the “proposed [] investment of $10 million to bolster public defense in Pennsylvania…[t]he disparity between what Pennsylvania’s defenders need and what we may receive — even with this investment — is cavernous.”

• In Georgia, the deputy director of the Southern Center for Human Rights argued in an op-ed that “[u]nderstaffing and underfunding continue to plague the important work of Georgia’s public defenders…As we recognize Gideon and the creation of our statewide public defender system, we must also recognize that a system without full investment will harm our public defenders, the many people the state decides to prosecute and the communities that will continue to shoulder bloated jail budgets.”

Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform

• In Minneapolis MN, “[the] City Council [] approved an agreement with the state to revamp policing, nearly three years after a city officer killed George Floyd. The state Department of Human Rights issued a blistering report last year that said the police department had engaged in a pattern of race discrimination for at least a decade. City leaders subsequently agreed to negotiate a settlement with the agency.”

• In Connecticut, “[f]our members of the commission that oversees CT’s Public Defender office suddenly resigned this week. It’s been less than one year since the appointment of Chief Public Defender Tashun Bowden-Lewis…Attorney General William Tong has hired another law firm to investigate allegations inside the public defender’s office.”

  • Relatedly, “[a]n email circulated at the state Division of Public Defender Services, stunned earlier this week by mass resignations from its oversight board, called on staff to resist what it described as “racist” efforts to undermine division chief TaShun Bowden-Lewis by preventing her from hiring Black defense lawyers.”

• In Alameda County CA, “[a] veteran…prosecutor resigned from her post this week, saying in a scorching letter that she could no longer 'adequately and ethically protect the rights of victims’ under the administration of District Attorney Pamela Price.”

  • For context: “Barring ‘extraordinary circumstances’ and approval by District Attorney Pamela Price herself, the penalty for most crimes in Alameda County will soon be restricted to probation or the lowest-level prison term….Alameda County voters elected Pamela Price in November on her promise to address racial disparities and ‘disrupt the system.’…But, while criminal justice reforms remain critically important across the state and nation, numerous people from the DA's office have told The Berkeley Scanner that this approach is not the right way forward.”

• In Allegheny County PA, “[t]wo prosecutors in the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office said earlier this month that they couldn’t withdraw criminal charges in one case or make a plea deal in another because of politics. In both instances, the assistant district attorneys cited the upcoming primary election between their boss, six-term incumbent District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr., and challenger Matt Dugan, the county’s public defender…Legal ethics experts said the prosecutors’ alleged actions were unethical and an abuse of discretion.”

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello, interested public! Doorstop of a digest for you this week, with major news on a variety of fronts. In student debt, state lawmakers are exploring more local options as federal student loan relief looks as though it may founder. The public defender crisis continued in many places with New York City’s public defender services issued warnings they may collapse without better funding, while defenders in Alberta worried newly-allotted government funds may not be used to increase their compensation (the subject of job action last year). In Oregon, defenders brought a suit asking to be withdrawn from some cases—and for charges against people unable to obtain court-appointed counsel to be dismissed. In legal aid news, the US Department of Justice issued its 2022 White House Legal Aid Interagency Roundtable report and the Right to Counsel in Eviction movement made further progress in Kansas City, Boulder, and the State of Utah.

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

Take care of one another,

Sam

Editor’s Choice(s)

• In Atlanta GA, “[a] legal observer and attorney with civil rights group Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), was arrested and charged with domestic terrorism during a [] demonstration against the development of a 85-acre police training complex in Atlanta’s South River Forest…The attorney was acting as a legal observer at the time of his arrest, the National Lawyers Guild (which monitors protests) said in a statement, according to the Daily Beast.”

  • Relatedly, “[c]ivil liberties groups and defense attorneys say officials levied the disproportionate charges to scare off others from joining a movement that has only grown since January, when a 26-year-old known as Tortuguita was killed by a state trooper as authorities cleared activists from the South River Forest. Authorities said they fired in self-defense after the protester shot a trooper, but activists have questioned that narrative.”

• In Los Angeles CA, “[p]rosecutors [] have announced charges against Silverado CEO Loren Shook and two other company leaders in connection with a Covid-19 outbreak associated with the death of 14 people at a community in 2020…The trio faces 13 felony counts of elder endangerment and five felony counts of violation causing death…[According to DA Gascón,] ‘[t]he investigation revealed that the Silverado management team was aware of the risks associated with admitting a new resident from a high-risk area and failed to follow the appropriate procedures to protect their employees and the vulnerable people in their care’.”

Dueling Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence

• In The Hill, Dr. Jacy Reese Anthis (sociology) argued that “AIs are no longer mere tools like smartphones and electric cars, and we cannot treat them in the same way as mindless technologies[; ]we need to build a new field of digital minds research and an AI rights movement to ensure that, if the minds we create are sentient, they have their rights protected.”

• Meanwhile, in MercatorNet, Dr. Karl D. Stephan (electrical engineering) argued that “[o]ne big problem I foresee will arise from the defective anthropology that prevails in our modern culture. Human beings are different from other animals and from machines due to a difference in kind, not merely in degree. In the rush to embrace ever more impressive applications of AI, a lot of people have lost sight of this fact, if they ever believed it in the first place…A degraded view of humanity results when one assumes that there is no essential distinction between humans and advanced AI programs…And all the consequences of treating humans as machines will result from that attitude.”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In Washington DC, “Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, John Cornyn of Texas, and Joni Ernst of Iowa said they will introduce a resolution under Congressional Budget Office to overturn the plan. The CRA allows Congress to overturn government agency rules by a majority vote.”

• Meanwhile, at the state level, “lawmakers in many states are looking to expand their own student debt repayment programs.”

Immigration & Refugee Issues

• In San Diego CA, “a federal court largely denied the Biden administration’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit, Immigrant Defenders Law Center et al. v. Mayorkas, brought on behalf of people seeking asylum who were stranded outside the United States as a result of the Trump administration’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy.”

• In New York NY, “[i]mmigration advocates rall[ied] for [a proposed] Right to Counsel [l]aw [to] boost the capacity of legal service providers to an estimated 65,000 people who lack access to representation in immigration court.”

Non-Profit & Government Management & Hiring

• In New York NY, “[n]onprofits serving the Big Apple say they can't pay their bills because the money from city grants is just too late…[for example,] the Center for Community Alternatives [is] one of thousands on nonprofits that rely on city funding and are being hamstrung by a city bureaucracy so filled with red tape that it can take as long as a year to get paid.”

• In Washington DC, “The Georgetown University Law Center has announced the first three court projects selected for its inaugural Judicial Innovation Fellowship, which will embed technologists and software designers in state, local and tribal courts to develop tech-based solutions to improve access to the judicial system…Three fellows, with backgrounds as technologists, designers, data scientists or product managers, will be selected to join the Georgetown University Law Center in September to work on projects from Tennessee, Kansas and Utah.”

• In Washington DC, a recent survey from the MissionSquare Research Institute found that “[j]ust over half of respondents (51%) report being very or extremely satisfied with their current employer.”

• In a Chronicle of Philanthrophy survey of nearly 700 fundraisers, “30 percent of respondents were somewhat or very dissatisfied with their organization’s diversity. In open-ended comments, respondents complained it was difficult to find ‘a diverse candidate pool’ and said that Black fundraisers hired after George Floyd’s death often ‘found themselves within hostile cultures.’ One person went so far as to say there is a ‘white supremacy culture in fundraising.’”

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In Washington DC, “Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and White House Counsel Stuart Delery jointly issued the 2022 White House Legal Aid Interagency Roundtable (Roundtable) Report. The report, entitled ‘Access to Justice through Simplification: A Roadmap for People-Centered Simplification of Federal Government Forms, Processes, and Language,’ highlights agency accomplishments and commitments in furtherance of the Roundtable’s mission to ‘increase the availability of meaningful access to justice for individuals and families, regardless of wealth or status.’”

• In Multnomah County OR, “voters will have a choice to make this May on a proposed new tax that would provide free legal representation for tenants facing eviction.”

• On “Common Law,” a podcast of the University of Virginia School of Law, Prof. Elizabeth A. Rowe argued that “[because f]acial recognition technology is so powerful and rife with the potential to be misused that regulators should treat faces like trade secrets…[a classification that] would offer consumers the kind of defense they will need in response to a significant threat to privacy[.]”

• In Boulder CO, “[t]he City of Boulder has released the Eviction Prevention and Rental Assistance Services (EPRAS) program annual report which highlights successes and challenges from the program’s second year.”

• In Kansas City KS, “[the city’s] right to counsel program, which provides free legal representation to tenants facing eviction…prevented evictions for hundreds of tenants [in less than a year]. Now, the program is poised to get more funding from Kansas City officials for the upcoming fiscal year — $1.6 million, up from $750,000. Legal organizations involved in the program say more money will give it needed stability.”

• In Utah, “[the State] Supreme Court has announced an innovative project that aims to provide free legal advice to people facing housing issues in the state. According to the press release, the Utah Supreme Court’s Office of Legal Services Innovation, along with Innovation 4 Justice, is launching the Housing Stability Legal Advocate Pilot Program that will train nonlawyers working within community-based organizations or nonprofits to become legal advocates who may bridge the gap in access to legal aid for vulnerable populations.”

• In New York NY, “[n]onprofit organizations providing legal services to low income New Yorkers rallied [] at City Hall to call on the mayor to increase funding in the fiscal year 2024 budget.”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Colorado, Kiyomi Bolick of the Colorado State Public Defenders’ Service argued that “I no longer expect our greatest victories to be won inside of a courtroom. Rather, the future of public defense lies in unionized collective action, and the leverage it will afford us to demand true systemic change.”

• In Washington DC, “Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Richard Durbin, D-Ill., introduced legislation [] to create a new source of grant funding to hire public defenders and raise their pay to try to level the playing field with prosecutor salaries.”

• In Kansas, “Heather Cessna, executive director of the Kansas State Board of Indigents’ Defense Services, said the [public defender] shortage is a disaster that is years in the making.”

• In Iowa, “[f]ederal officials visited Des Moines [] to announce new plans to improve access to affordable legal services for Iowans, while also cautioning that the state may be requiring indigent defendants to pay more than they can afford for their state-appointed lawyers.”

• In Victoria County TX, “County Judge Ben Zeller said a new regional public defender office could be a solution [to challenges residents face getting access to a public defender].”

• In Pennsylvania, the Editorial Board of the Lewistown Sentinel argued that “[b]y allocating state funding for indigent defense for the first time in Pennsylvania, Mr. Shapiro has taken a commendable step toward making the Gideon decision a reality in the commonwealth.”

• In Alberta, “the [provincial] government will be spending tens of millions of dollars to increase assistance offered through legal aid and offer more timely justice services.”

  • In other news, “[t]he funding comes after Alberta’s criminal lawyers last December ended five months of job action that included refusing to take on legal aid certificates in protest of what they called underfunding that affected their pay…[but i]t’s not clear how much that new money will affect lawyers’ pay [] and it might simply make up for cuts the UCP government made in response to reduced court cases during the pandemic.”

• In New York NY, “[t]he Bronx Defenders is one of five public defender services demanding more funding from the city in this year’s budget, including a combined $125 million ask that would increase salaries for public defenders, meet the needs of New York’s ultra-strict discovery laws and combat attrition in those offices, that they say, is contributing to court delays in their respective boroughs.”

  • Relatedly, “New York City’s six major public defender groups are in such dire financial straits they fear they’ll collapse if they don’t see a $425 million funding increase in the next municipal budget.”

• In Marion County OR, “attorneys in Marion County filed a recent motion that many hope will quickly make its way to the state supreme court. It asks for public defenders to be withdrawn from certain cases, for a stop to appointing lawyers to some new cases and a dismissal of remaining charges for anyone left without court-appointed counsel.”

• In Brazos County TX, “the Brazos County Public Defender Office is open for business.”

• In Miami FL, “[the US Department of Justice] announced that the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) and [the DOJ] Access to Justice program are conducting a comprehensive review of access to counsel in BOP’s pretrial facilities.”

• In Oakland County CA, “Paulette Loftin…has been appointed Oakland County’s first chief public defender.”

Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform

• In Chicago IL, “a new study from Professor Siegler’s Federal Justice Clinic…studied the decisions of federal judges presiding over the cases of people accused of a crime who are awaiting trial and presumed innocent. Their research shows that federal judges regularly violate the very bail laws that they are sworn to uphold, locking people in jail who should be released.” (Study available here.)

• In New York, “[p]ointing to ‘disproportionate rates of policing and prosecution experienced in communities of color,’ New York state’s Appellate Division [] announced it has pared back its bar-admission question on applicants’ law enforcement encounters as a way to promote better equity and diversity in the bar.”

• In Washington DC, “President Biden on Friday called on Congress to increase the enforcement authorities of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, saying the federal regulators should be more empowered to punish those involved in cases such as the recent Silicon Valley Bank collapse.”

• Also in Washington DC, “Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Tim Walberg (R-MI) reintroduced a bill [] that would significantly overhaul the federal government’s civil forfeiture laws.”

• Again also in Washington DC, “President Joe Biden [] nominated…a former public defender and a longtime federal prosecutor [] to the federal bench in Maryland following his pledge to appoint judges with diverse backgrounds and experiences.”

• In Seattle WA, “[t]he Seattle Attorney’s Office reported it had prevented more than 750 police referrals in Ann Davison’s first year as city attorney, an 11% reduction in the annual average of incoming cases from the Seattle Police Department (SPD).”

• In Ottawa, “Federal Justice Minister, David Lametti, said he will tighten access to bail in Canada. This comes in response to concerns about the potential release of dangerous offenders who may pose a risk to the public.”

(Retractions)

• In last week’s digest, I linked to an article about problems with funding at the Georgia Public Defender’s Council. Although it was posted recently, that article was a reprint of a new story from another publication from several years ago. I apologize for this error. Thanks to the reader who called this issue to my attention!

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello, interested public! The ongoing staffing shortage of public defenders across the United States continues to be a major story, but other important news has broken in the past week as well. As always, these stories and more are in the links below.

Take care of one another,

Sam

Editor’s Choice(s)

• In Florida, “[i]n an important victory for professors, other educators, and students across Florida, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals left in place a preliminary injunction blocking Florida’s HB 7 — also known as the Stop Wrongs Against Our Kids and Employees Act (Stop W.O.K.E. Act) — from being enforced in institutions of higher education, pending appeal. The procedural ruling maintains the preliminary injunction until the Eleventh Circuit issues a decision on the merits.”

• In California, “[a] would-be class action lawsuit alleges that the DoNotPay website is engaged in the unauthorized practice of law and is harming its customers by providing legal services that are ‘substandard and poorly done.’ The March 3 suit alleges that DoNotPay violated California’s unfair competition law by holding itself out as a lawyer to California residents and by selling legal services there without a law license.”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• Across the United States, “[s]tudent loan borrowers are bracing for payments to resume[.]”

• Meanwhile, in Forbes, a contributor explored mechanisms for student loan forgiveness that are not blocked by the Supreme Court.

Immigration & Refugee Issues

• In Washington DC, “[t]he Biden administration is considering reinstating the practice of holding migrant families with children in long-term detention facilities as it prepares for the end of pandemic-era border restrictions in early May, three sources familiar with the internal deliberations tell CBS News.”

Non-Profit & Government Management & Hiring

• In Duluth MN, a sitting judge wrote “I have worked in the Duluth courthouse for more than 20 years. I have never seen staff turnover issues like we currently are experiencing. Statewide, staff departure rates increased by 52% from fiscal years 2019 to 2022. We have lost some very capable people not just to the private sector but to other public agencies…We have some good people who have stayed, but the constant turnover is wearing them out. The court system has to be able to recruit and retain staff to achieve our mission, and compensation is a major component of how we do that. Our court staff are long overdue for a significant pay raise.”

• In Washington DC, “[t]he Biden administration is looking to add 82,000 employees in fiscal 2024, a 3.6% increase that would bring civilian federal rolls to their highest levels since World War II.”

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In Washington DC, “[t]he Legal Services Corporation is asking for $1.5 billion from Congress in its fiscal year 2024 budget request, more than double its appropriation for 2023. LSC, which supports legal aid agencies across the country, including Indiana Legal Services, said in a press release the request addresses a projected increase in demand for civil legal services due to the impact of COVID-19 on low-income Americans, as well as the ongoing lack of resources to address the ‘widening justice gap.’”

• In Cleveland OH, the Executive Director of The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland wrote that “the firm Stout Risius Ross released an independent evaluation of Right to Counsel in Cleveland, providing proof that preventing eviction contributes to a healthy community. The study highlights that, because of the Right to Counsel, we are identifying and responding to poor housing conditions; responding to an eviction crisis that disproportionately impacts Black female heads of household; leveraging critical community interventions; and increasing access to justice.” (Independent evaluation available here.)

• In Nevada, a lawsuit is proceeding to the state Supreme Court that argues “[civil forfeiture] violates constitutional protections against double jeopardy by punishing defendants twice for the same crime[.]”

• In Montreal QC, “the Honourable David Lametti, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, accompanied by Na'kuset, Executive Director of the Native Women's Shelter of Montreal (NWSM), announced support to improve access to justice for Indigenous families [via funding for NWSM’s Family Care Legal Clinic].”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Idaho, “[a] bill that creates a structure for transferring responsibility of public defenders to the state has passed the Idaho House of Representatives.”

• In Carroll County MD, “Carroll County State’s Attorney Haven Shoemaker says his difficulty in hiring and retaining employees is because of the low salaries he can offer them.”

• In Scott County IA, “[a]ll local private attorneys may be assigned to represent indigent clients as soon as Friday, whether they like it or not. In a letter sent to the Scott County Bar Association late this week, Seventh District Judge Henry Latham said the court will begin assigning private attorneys in Scott County to defend people who cannot afford an attorney as soon as March 17.”

• In Indiana, “[a state] Senate committee voted to advance House Bill 1605…with the aim to help attract and retain talent [for public defenders’ offices].”

• In Madison County IN, “the County Council deadlocked on American Rescue Plan funding for two requests by the prosecutor’s office but approved a request from the public defender’s office.”

• In Wisconsin, “Fond du Lac DA Eric Toney sa[id] prosecutor [and] public defender pay increases could make it in budget after talks with GOP[.]”

• In Ohio, “[c]ounties around the state…stand to see increased costs for public defense cases due to a possible reduction in the amount reimbursed by the state.”

• In Florida, “[p]ublic defender offices across Florida and the country are plagued with challenges like low pay, high caseloads, and a growing number of vacancies that seem harder to fill.”

• In Oregon, “[n]ew legal action filed [] over Oregon's beleaguered public defense system calls on the Marion County court to let overwhelmed public defenders withdraw from their cases and to dismiss those cases where no attorney is available.”

• In Pennsylvania, “[t]he governor’s proposed budget may provide a boost to a bill working its way through the Senate that would fund public defender offices and bring the state into compliance with constitutional mandates.”

• In Georgia, “some people accuse the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council, which runs the system, of spending too much time and money on indigent people…[after a] technical glitch in state law left the council with a shortfall of about $10 million in the state budget…The Georgia Legislature is debating whether to approve a request for $9.5 million to keep the public defender system operating until July, the start of the next fiscal year.”

• In Walton County GA, “the County Board of Commissioners [received reports of] a ‘critical staffing’ shortage in the public defender’s office.”

• In Texas, “a two-tiered system of justice enshrined in the Texas Criminal Code is putting some of the poorest rural Texans at a disadvantage after an arrest. While indigent residents — those who can’t afford an attorney — of counties with more than 250,000 people must be provided with a court-appointed lawyer within one day of requesting counsel, the wait for rural Texans could stretch up to five days.”

• In Hollywood CA, “ABC has assembled the lead cast opposite Anthony Anderson of ABC’s single camera comedy pilot Public Defenders. In it, up to their earholes in student loan debt, four inexperienced public defenders work tirelessly to keep their clients out of jail. Along the way, they have to rely on one another to navigate their first defendants, the absurd court system and the copy machine that always jams.”

Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform

• In New York NY, “several law professors have urged the Manhattan federal court [that] the public should have the right to access the ultimate resolution by New York’s attorney grievance committee of complaints alleging prosecutorial misconduct.”

• In Virginia, “[p]rogressive Commonwealth Attorney Steve Descano shared the results of a recent poll that—contrary to what his critics claim—reveals ‘94 percent of residents in Northern Virginia feel safe in their neighborhoods.’”

• In Orlando FL, “prosecutor Monique Worrell is not giving up the fight against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' scheme to remove her from office, The Daily Beast reports. During a press conference held to provide updates on the status of charges in a recent shooting which left two people dead and one injured, per The Daily Beast, Worrell said DeSantis is specifically targeting her ‘because she's a Democrat.’”

• In Olympia WA, “Daniel Landsman, Deputy Director of the criminal justice reform organization Families Against Mandatory Minimums, criticized the use of juvenile adjudications this week following the passing of a Washington state bill changing juvenile sentencing policy. The bill, passed by the Washington House of Representatives, ends the use of juvenile adjudications as a means to automatically enhance a person’s sentence as they enter the adult criminal system, though judges could still consider juvenile history in adult sentences.”

• In Seattle WA, “[t]he Seattle City Attorney's Office announced a 50% reduction in Seattle's case backlog over the course of 2022…The city attorney credited several key factors with the decline. The report noted that staffers meticulously weeded out certain cases that would not have been prosecutable[.]”

• Also in Seattle WA, “[a] public defender with a healthy skepticism of the police and justice system wants to be a voice for voters tired of disorder and crime in District 3’s neighborhoods. Bobby Goodwin tells CHS he also wants to bring his lived experience with mental illness into the race for the district’s seat on the Seattle City Council.”

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello, interested public! Major news this week revolved around DC, where the Supreme Court weighed the arguments against student loan relief and granted certiorari in a case challenging the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau while the Biden Administration adopted immigration policies that legal experts compared to Trump’s “transit ban”. On a more local level, governments continue to focus on funding for prosecutors and public defenders, including in Maine, private attorneys are stepping up to represent indigent clients after lawmakers nearly doubled their hourly rate–but advocates insist more reforms are needed, in New York, Governor Hochul’s Budget proposed tens of millions of new spending dollars for prosecutors while rejecting a request from public defender organizations for parity funding, and in Houston TX, where reporting revealed that a former prosecutor has collected over $1 million last year representing indigent defendants on a contract basis.

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

Take care of one another,

Sam

Editor’s Choice

• In Washington DC, “[t]he Supreme Court announced [] that it will hear a case on whether the funding structure of the federal consumer protection agency created after the 2008 financial crisis is constitutional.”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In Washington DC, “[p]rotesters camp[ed] outside [the] Supreme Court ahead of [the] student debt relief debate”

• Also in Washington DC, “President Joe Biden told reporters [] that he is “not confident” the Supreme Court will uphold his executive order to cancel up to $20,000 of federal student loan debt for tens of millions of borrowers—a day after the court’s conservative majority seemed skeptical of Biden’s authority to enact debt relief.”

• In the United States, “[a]fter Tuesday’s oral arguments, legal experts told TIME it is increasingly likely loan forgiveness will get thrown out by the conservative majority court. The restart of student loan payments would come at a time of high stress for many Americans.”

Immigration & Refugee Issues

• In the United States, “[m]ore than 100 organizations banded together to launch a public comment tool to ensure the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice hear from people who are against the [administration’s] new [more restrictive asylum] policy…Last week the administration said it will bar migrants from petitioning for asylum if they didn’t seek safe haven in another country while on their way to the U.S. border. The rule has prompted outrage from immigrant rights groups and legal experts who argue the move is akin to former President Trump’s extreme immigration policies.”

  • According to Prof. Karen Musalo (UCSF), “[t]he policy – which immigrant rights advocates, congressional leaders and faith groups are calling an ‘asylum ban’ or ‘transit ban’ – is almost identical to one implemented by the Trump administration in 2019. The Trump-era rule was later struck down by the courts as unlawful.”

  • Comment tool available here.

• In New York NY, the “City Council and several private foundations unveiled a $2.2 million dollar initiative called “Welcome NYC” [] to fund organizations currently providing migrants and other communities with legal services[.]”

Environmental Justice

• In Akron OH, “[a] nonprofit public interest law firm called We The Patriots USA (WTP USA) held a press conference [] to discuss newly-filed litigation against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and local authorities over how they handled the East Palestine railway incident…The lawsuit alleges that the federal government including the EPA handled the disaster improperly and neglected to carry out the necessary testing in the aftermath of the derailment.”

• In Wisconsin, “[t]he Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL) is the latest to file a lawsuit against the Biden Administration for permitting the use of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors in 401(k) accounts under the Department of Labor’s (DOL) final rule. [The suit] accus[es] the administration of violating the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and the Administrative Procedure Act.”

Gender & Reproductive Rights

• In New York NY, “[a] U.S. appeals court [] revived an anti-abortion crisis pregnancy center’s challenge to a New York state law that prohibits retaliation against employees for getting abortions or making other reproductive health decisions.”

Non-Profit & Government Management & Hiring

• In Washington DC, Government Executive noted that “[when] a train carrying toxic chemical material derailed in eastern Ohio…a series of decisions by authorities created an evacuation zone in the community, as well as a controlled release of toxic fumes [while] one of the agencies tasked with safety regulations around hazardous materials, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, has been without a confirmed head since the end of the Trump administration.”

• In Colorado, “[i]n an atypical move not afforded to most judicial policymaking, the Colorado Supreme Court has invited the public to comment on a pair of proposals that aim to preserve access to live streamed court proceedings across the state and lay down uniform guidance for virtual hearings.”

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In Alaska, the “Supreme Court issued an order [] lowering the minimum score needed to pass the bar exam and practice law as an attorney in the state, following a recommendation from the Alaska Bar Association to address difficulty in recruiting and retaining attorneys in the state.”

• On the Legal Talk Network, Prof. Quinten Steenhuis (Suffolk University) “discuss[ed] his team’s successful collaboration with legal aid orgs to use technology to scale help for the courtformsonline.org project and the potential to use tech to extend the reach of legal services.”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In New York, “[t]he governor proposed an outsized boost worth tens of millions for prosecutors — drawing comparisons to New York’s history of public defense neglect.”

• In Miami FL, “the U.S. Department of Justice launched a nationwide tour in Miami to recognize the 60th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court ruling, Gideon v. Wainwright, guaranteeing a defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to a lawyer and a fair trial….As part of the initiative, the Justice Department also launched a 100-day review of its efforts to ensure ‘timely access to counsel’ in Bureau of Prison facilities, which has been a source of complaints by defense lawyers seeking to meet with their clients detained before trial, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

• In Maine, “[m]ore private attorneys have stepped up to represent indigent clients since Maine lawmakers voted [] to nearly double the hourly pay they will receive over the next four months.”

  • Relatedly, “Zach Heiden, chief counsel for ACLU Maine, told lawmakers on two committees [recent changes to hourly reimbursement were] progress [but] a hybrid system of private attorneys and public defenders should have been adopted years ago rather than its standing, until recently, as the only state in the country to rely entirely on private attorneys. And he said additional reforms – such as increased training and supervision as well as for statewide offices to handle appeals and post-conviction reviews – will cost money.”

• In Ionia County MI, “[w]ith a state mandate to increase salaries for Ionia County Public Defender’s Office attorneys, the county’s Board of Commissioners is also increasing pay for the Prosecutor’s Office.”

• In the United States, “[a]s tech firms build ever more sophisticated means of surveilling people and their devices – technology that law enforcement is eager to take advantage of – the legal community is scrambling to keep up. Public defenders are often the most overworked and underpaid lawyers in the criminal justice system, with little time and few resources to research the new technology now being used against their clients. This, in turn, creates an uneven playing field that disadvantages the most vulnerable people: those who can’t afford private attorneys.”

Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform

• In Harris County TX, the Houston Chronicle reported that “Harris County paid one private attorney just over $1 million last year to represent hundreds of low-income people accused of crimes, helping proliferate a system that critics say wastes taxpayer dollars and robs indigent defendants of a fair shake in court. Jeanie Ortiz, a former Harris County prosecutor, reported to the state that she earned the $1 million while working on about 400 felonies and 200 misdemeanors. A study funded by the Texas Indigent Defense Commission in 2015 concluded that attorneys could only reasonably handle at most 128 felonies or 226 misdemeanors a year.”

• In St. Louis MO, “Republican Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey moved to fire embattled Democratic St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner [] after she refused to resign following a weekend accident involving a repeat offender who was free despite several violations of his bond terms.”

• In Norfolk VA, “[a] progressive prosecutor [has] ended up in the crosshairs of [the] debate over rising crime”

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello, interested public! Major news stories this week include the upcoming student debt arguments before the US Supreme Court, a new website focused on internship opportunities with the federal government, and continuing efforts to improve staffing and morale for line attorneys in public defense and legal aid, as governments debate increasing salaries and expanding hiring and attorneys engage in collective efforts to insist on better pay and working conditions.

Take care of one another,

Sam

Editor’s Choice

• In the United States, “2022 was a record year for the number of people who died at the hands of law enforcement, whether shot, beaten, restrained, or tasered. That’s according to a non-profit research group called Mapping Police Violence, which tracks these deadly incidents.”

• In Washington DC, “[t]he Office of Personnel Management on Thursday launched a new portal as part of USAJOBS for students interested in applying for internships at federal agencies, billed as a “one-stop shop” for those interested in exploring a career in government.”

Environmental Justice

• In Washington DC, “the Biden-Harris Administration announced the availability of $550 million from President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act to expedite investments through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) new Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmaking (EJ TCGM) program.”

Immigration & Refugee Issues

• In Washington DC, “[t]he American Civil Liberties Union urged the U.S. Supreme Court to leave intact a Ninth Circuit ruling that partly cleared a California man of encouraging unlawful immigration, saying [] that the law the lower court struck down was too broad[.]”

• In New York NY, City & State published an article exploring the difficulties that migrants seeking asylum in New York City are having in their efforts to find lawyers to represent them.

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In Washington DC, “[a]dvocates are planning to camp out at the Supreme Court the night before the student debt arguments. One leader of the event told Insider it's important "the justices look into the eyes of borrowers" as they hear the cases.”

  • Other sources claim that “[m]ore than a dozen organizations, including the NAACP, Student Debt Crisis Center and the National Education Association, are co-sponsoring [the] rally[.]”

• Also in Washington DC, “[t]he Education Department released new data [] providing the most detailed breakdown to date on how many student-loan borrowers would benefit from President Joe Biden's plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt for federal borrowers…[A]ccording to a Politico analysis, 98% of the applications came from zip codes where per capita incomes were under $75,000, and more than half of the applications came from areas with per capita incomes under $35,000[; ] it's reasonable to say that Biden's relief would work as intended, targeting it to the lowest earners.”

Non-Profit & Government Management & Hiring

• In Washington DC, “[t]he White House appears set to give Login-dot-gov, a digital identity service run by the General Services Administration, a leading role in providing access to public benefits programs, according to a draft executive order obtained by FCW.”

• In the Washington Post, Dr. Anthony Fauci and Max Stier (of the Partnership for Public Service) argued that “[f]ederal leaders should pay more attention to hiring young people to sustain the workforce, and some managers have a tendency to hire for experience instead of building the talent bench.”

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In Canada, “[t]rans people face a disproportionate number of legal problems and are less likely than cis people to formally act on them, said a new Canadian Bar Association report.” (Full report, CBA Access to Justice for Trans People, available here.)

• In Maine, according to a recent presentation by the Director of Admissions at Maine Law, “[the] huge [rural] demand for attorneys…goes beyond criminal law issue [and] also impacts family law, disability cases, property debates, and other issues including legal counsel for entrepreneurs and small business owners.”

• In New York NY, “[l]ast fall, THE CITY reported that fewer than 10% of tenants in eviction cases were getting assigned a lawyer, despite the law guaranteeing one for all low-income people.”

• Also in New York NY, “[l]awyers, paralegals, and administrative staff working with the New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG), the non-profit organization that provides free legal assistance to all New York City residents, took part in a two-day strike action [that one participant called ‘]our first ever strike[.]’”

• In Florida, “[t]he Florida Clerks of Court Operations Corporation is hard at work creating a statewide database of guardian and guardianship case information as prescribed by the Florida Legislature last year. The database came at the recommendation of the Guardianship Improvement Task Force to create greater transparency in the guardianship process.”

• In Alberta, a past president of the Alberta Branch of the Canadian Bar Association and a past chair of the CBA National Family Law Section argued that “Alberta should be the next province to constitute a [Unified Family Court]…particularly as Alberta was supposed to have implemented a Unified Family Court in 2020 after the federal government had committed to funding 17 judicial positions in the province.”

  • Relatedly, the Alberta Family Lawyers Association “[held] a ‘Day of Action’[, with m]any lawyers across Alberta [] not [] scheduling matters in Court on the Day of Action, and many [] closing their doors and not conducting business on that day, in order to draw attention to Alberta’s Family Justice Crisis.”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Georgia, “[a] shortage of public defenders [] is leaving attorneys overburdened and those accused of crimes waiting for a proper defense — and that wait can last for months.”

• In Alaska, “Gov. Mike Dunleavy [] said he is proposing an additional $8.3 million over two years to help address caseload and staffing concerns for the state Public Defender Agency and Office of Public Advocacy.”

• In Montana, “[l]awmakers in charge of outlining state spending for public safety [] declined to fully fund a request for more public defenders.”

• In Maine, “[t]he Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services voted on Wednesday to raise their pay from $80 to $150 dollars an hour, effective March 1st.”

• In Minnesota, the Star Tribune published a response “to a Jan. 27 commentary by Minnesota Chief Justice Lorie S. Gildea,” stating that “[p]ublic defenders were encouraged that our plea for pay parity and caseload controls was heard.”

• In Louisville KY, “[t]he Louisville Public Defenders Union is demanding better contracts. The held a forum[], asking the public to join them as they wrote letters to their board hoping to negotiate a new contract.”

  • Relatedly, “[a]n attorney with the public defender’s youth division says she’s being retaliated against because of her involvement with a union.”

• In Ionia County MI, “[the county] Board of Commissioners [approved h]iring a fourth public defense attorney [but tabled]providing a salary increase for the current public defense attorneys.”

• In Grundy County IL, “[a]fter several months of being short staffed, the Grundy County Public Defenders Office is nearly back to normal staffing levels.”

• In Florida, “HB 71, the measure offering greater protection to defense counsel and enhancing the penalties for anyone who attacks any court-appointed counsel or defense counsel acting in their capacity, has cleared its second committee hurdle.”

Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform

• In Toronto ON, “[s]tudents and staff at the University of Toronto law school are launching a new database this week documenting dozens of cases of wrongful convictions in Canada hoping to draw more attention to the problem.”

• In New Orleans LA, “[t]he New Orleans District Attorney is ordering an extensive internal review after a prosecutor in his office refused charges on more than a dozen carnival arrests. In a statement to WDSU, the DA's office wrote in part: ‘The Assistant DA’s strategic decision to refuse these misdemeanors in exchange for forfeiture of the weapons at first appearance was improper and does not represent our office policy or procedure.’”

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hello, interested public! The dominant story in the United States continues to be the ongoing shortage of state and local government workers, including a variety of stories about the difficulties various jurisdictions are having staffing local government attorney positions. As always, these stories and others are in the links below.

Take care of one another,

Sam

Editor’s Choice

• In East Palestine OH, “[n]early two weeks after a train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed in rural Ohio, questions still linger about the lasting effects of the incident and the speed at which residents were returned to their homes…Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Republican Governor Mike DeWine said he learned that the train cars were marked as non-hazardous, and thus officials weren’t notified that the train would be crossing through the state. The governor called on Congress to look into the regulations that would allow a train carrying multiple cars with hazardous substances to be labeled non-hazardous.”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In the United States, “[m]ore than half of people with student loans say their future financial stability hinges on erasing that debt, even as a Biden administration program that promised to forgive up to $20,000 remains in legal limbo.”

• In Washington DC, “Republican lawmakers are once again trying to put millions of student-loan borrowers back into repayment…GOP Sens. Bill Cassidy and John Thune reintroduced the Stop Reckless Student Loan Actions Act, which would end the ongoing student-loan payment pause and block President Joe Biden from canceling student debt broadly in connection with a national emergency.”

Non-Profit & Government Management & Hiring

• In New York, “[the] State Legislature has approved chapter amendments to New York State’s pay transparency law, which is slated to take effect on September 17, 2023. The most notable revision would provide that the law applies to remote positions physically performed outside of New York that report to a New York supervisor, office, or work site. The bill is currently before Governor Hochul, and if signed, would become part of the law taking effect in September.”

• In Texas, “Gov. Greg Abbott’s office is warning state agency and public university leaders this week that the use of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives — policies that support groups who have been historically underrepresented or discriminated against — is illegal in hiring.”

• In the United States, “[i]t’s widely known that state and local governments are struggling to recruit and retain workers…But as the number of layoff announcements in the private sector increase and a record number of Americans withdraw funds from their 401(k)s as a result of financial distress, the public sector may be uniquely positioned to reverse its worker shortage with a highly attractive benefit that gives it an edge over the private sector: a pension.”

Legal Technology

• In the United States, the recent “State of the Courts Report 2023” revealed that “[v]irtual hearings are here to stay, with over 80% of courts today conducting hearings through virtual platforms. 40% say the majority of court hearings are now conducted virtually. 74% say virtual hearings will stay the same or increase in the future.”

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In Harris County TX, “growing eviction dockets mean many cases are decided in less than 90 seconds[.]”

• In Los Angeles CA, “[a]group of city council members proposed a program establishing a right to counsel for tenants in Los Angeles [] as part of a continued effort to expand renter protections.”

• In Albany NY, “[t]he Right to Counsel Coalition launched its 2023 legislative platform during a rally at the Albany State Capitol.”

• In Minnesota, “[a] group of housing advocates is urging state leaders to give out $85 million in federal housing aid as soon as possible amid record numbers of eviction filings across the state…Minnesota Housing officials said they're working on getting the funds out. Officials are developing a proposal of how to use the money based on public input, which was gathered through a December survey.”

• In Florida, “[w]hen the Statewide Guardian ad Litem Office teamed up with members of the Appellate Practice Section in 2017 to launch Defending Best Interests (DBI), an initiative in which pro bono attorneys write answer briefs defending the child’s best interests in termination of parental rights appeals, neither entity imagined how many children would be assisted. As of February, pro bono appellate attorneys have represented more than 1,000 dependent children on appeal, helping remove barriers to their permanency in safe and loving homes.”

Access to Justice – Criminal

• In Queens NY, “[a]s contract negotiations between the Legal Aid Society and the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys become increasingly tense, public defense attorneys across the city went on a lunchtime work stoppage[.]”

• In Alaska, “Gov. Mike Dunleavy [] said he is proposing an additional $8.3 million over two years to help address caseload and staffing concerns for the state Public Defender Agency and Office of Public Advocacy.”

• In Missouri, “a judge ruled [that] Missouri’s practice of placing poor criminal defendants on a waiting list for a state-appointed attorney is unconstitutional[.]”

• In Pender County NC, “[a new public defender office] is expected to be up and running by May of this year.”

• In Florida, “[t]he Florida Public Defender Association has proposed a new amendment to an existing Florida Bar rule, allowing court appearances for law school graduates up to a year before their bar admission. The proposal, put forth by the organization’s president, Carlos Martinez, aims to address the shortage of public defenders in the state and improve access to justice.”

• In Ontario, “[t]he Ontario government, the Ontario Court of Justice, Indigenous leaders, and community partners have opened the Kenora Justice Centre. The centre aims to extend community-led support to criminal offenders through health care, education, housing, and other social-service providers. Specialized teams that include Indigenous-led organizations and mental health and addictions counsellors will deliver wrap-around programs addressing the root causes of crimes while supporting healing and growth for at-risk youth and young adults.”

• In Cochise County AZ, “County Public Defender Eugene Marquez is calling it quits, his departure leaving the office that represents mostly indigent defendants rudderless.”

• In Lake County CA, “the Board of Supervisors discussed a report commissioned by the county on indigent defense services and considered a plan to make sure that the constitutional rights of criminal defendants in the local courts are being protected.”

Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform

• In Ft. Lauderdale FL, “[a]n elected Florida prosecutor who says he was suspended by Gov. Ron DeSantis for political gain — and because he is a Democrat — is asking the state Supreme Court to reinstate him, citing a federal judge's ruling that DeSantis violated state law and his First Amendment rights.”