February 3, 2023 at 4:52 pm
· Filed under Public Interest Law News Bulletin
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Photo: Harris and Ewing Collection, Library of Congress
Hello, interested public!
Another blockbuster news week, coming to you just under the wire (east coast time). Beyond this week’s focus, Amazon announced the end of their AmazonSmile program, leaving many nonprofits looking for additional sources of revenue. The ABA, the National Center for State Courts, and the RAND Corporation teased the results of their forthcoming study of new national public defender workload standards. Oh, and the Biden Administration’s decision to end the public health emergency in March may compromise its ability to offer student loan forgiveness. As always, these stories and more are in the links below.
Take care of one another,
Sam
Editor’s Focus
On January 29th, 2023, “[t]he Memphis Police Department announced Saturday that it was disbanding the specialized unit whose officers stopped and beat [Tyre] Nichols on Jan. 7. Nichols died in the hospital three days later. ”
On January 26th, 2023, Memphis Mayor Jim Strictland delivered a speech praising the city’s Scorpion unit: “At the end of last year, Chief Davis created the Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods Unit (SCORPION). This unit addresses violent crimes such as homicides, aggravated assaults, robberies, and carjackings that occur throughout the city. The teams will also address motor vehicle thefts, theft from motor vehicles, and other felony offenses…Since its inception last October through January 23, 2022, the Scorpion Unit has had a total of 566 arrests—390 of them felony arrests. They have seized over $103,000 in cash, 270 vehicles, and 253 weapons. ”
In 2006 and 2007, “[a]s she rose through the ranks of the Atlanta Police Department, Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis spent nearly 18 months overseeing a hyper-aggressive street crime unit, named Red Dog, that was ultimately disbanded following a public backlash and a series of lawsuits. Now, in the wake of Tyre Nichols’ death, Davis faces questions over why she would launch a similar team in Memphis, Tennessee — called the Scorpion unit — shortly after she arrived to lead the city’s police force in 2021. ‘If anyone in Memphis had checked with anyone from the world of police oversight in Atlanta, they would have learned that creating a Red Dog-like squad using Red Dog-like tactics was inevitably going to result in police misconduct and violence,’ said Dan Grossman, an Atlanta lawyer who filed several successful lawsuits on behalf of victims alleging they were roughed up by Red Dog officers. ”
Meanwhile, “[w]hen news broke [] that the Memphis Police Department’s Scorpion Unit was disbanded, Amber Sherman, a community organizer in the city who has helped lead the demonstrations for Tyre Nichols, seemed unimpressed: ‘Yep. Now they need to answer all the demands.’…[Local organizers a]re calling for widespread reforms in the Memphis police: dissolving similar task forces in the city, ending the use of unmarked cars and plainclothes officers, and banning traffic stops without probable cause…’It’s not just the Scorpion Unit. We’ve had these task forces for years,’ Sherman continue[d]. ‘I’m born and raised here, in my 20s, and this has always been a practice.’ ”
Student Loans & Student Debt
In Washington DC, “[t]he official COVID-19 national emergency is coming to an end, leaving some Americans to wonder what that means for economic policies that changed during the pandemic…As the national emergencies come to an end, it’s not exactly clear how the move will affect Americans with federal student loans…[S]ome worry that Biden’s declaration will complicate the legal case Nebraska v. Biden, which uses the COVID-19 national emergency as the rationale for implementing the $10,000 to $20,000 in debt relief per eligible borrower. ”
Also in Washington DC, “[m]ore than 60% of the 26 million people who applied for relief have had their loans sent to servicers for discharge, the U.S. Department of Education said. But forgiveness is not guaranteed. The Department of Education faced lawsuits from six states and two individuals who argued it was unlawful. ”
In California, “[t]he California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) recently issued a Notice of Modification to Proposed Regulations and published the newly modified proposed regulations to amend its student loan servicing regulations. Among other things, the modified regulations would expand the definition of ‘income share agreement,’ impose additional rules related to responding to a borrower’s qualified written request, and expand the requirements for the DFPI’s Aggregate Student Loan Servicing Report. ”
Non-Profit & Government Management & Hiring
In Alberta, “[a]ctive lawyers [] will soon have the chance to express their opinion on the provincial law society’s rule on mandating continuing professional development (CPD) requirements such as its mandatory course for Indigenous cultural competency training. In response to a petition signed by 51 lawyers in the province — one of which was later found to be inactive — the Law Society of Alberta (LSA) has called a special meeting to vote on a resolution Feb. 6 to repeal its rule 67.4[.] ”
In Arkansas, “[a]n Arkansas Senate committee [] advanced a bill that its sponsor Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Jonesboro, said is aimed at effectively ending affirmative action in state and local government. ”
In the United States, “[n]onprofit cultural institutions, advocacy groups, and social-service organizations have all had employees unionize…Even as the economy cools and fears of recession grow, both union organizers and consultants who advise nonprofit leaders on the issue say nonprofit staff are continuing to unionize at the same fast pace. ”
Also in the United States, “[a] group of 28 foundation leaders on Monday called on their peers to make a long-lasting commitment to support Black-led racial-justice organizations following the police killing of Tyre Nichols in Memphis. ”
Again also in the United States, “[a] national program that supported nonprofits is shutting down, leaving…nonprofits searching for new ways to replace the funding. Amazon launched AmazonSmile in 2013, contributing 0.5% of everypurchase made by participating customers to the charity of their choosing…The e-commerce giant announced earlier this month its plans to shut down the donation program by Feb. 20. ”
In Washington DC, “[the US House of Representatives] voted 221-206 mostly along party lines [] to pass legislation requiring federal agencies to revert to their pre-pandemic telework policies, although the measure is likely to meet stiff resistance in the Democratically controlled Senate[.] ”
In Georgia, “[t]he Georgia Court of Appeals [] said it didn’t have jurisdiction to review a governmental immunity question in a former public defender staffer’s wrongful firing suit, questioning whether it even had jurisdiction to issue a 2002 ruling on the issue that has since become the standard in the Peach State. ”
Access to Justice – Civil & Economic
Access to Justice – Criminal
In Waco TX, the Waco Tribune-Herald wrote about an “upcoming ‘watershed’ moment in public defense”: “Longtime civil rights lawyer Stephen Hanlon[‘s] law firm, Lawyer Hanlon, partnered with the American Bar Association, the National Center for State Courts and the public policy research RAND Corporation to develop new national public defender workload standards expected in February…The standards will be the first in the nation to prove with reliable data the extent to which public defenders are overworked, Hanlon said. They will be based on public defender workload studies in 17 states. Two of those studies revealed Oregon and New Mexico have about a third of the public defenders needed to provide adequate representation to everyone accused of crimes. ”
In Helena MT, the Independent Record published an expose of power dynamics that affect public defenders’ ability to zealously represent their clients: “[j]udges or elected officials in many counties nationwide have full oversight over public defense, a structure that can lead to “subtle pressure” on public defenders to avoid using many county resources or making motions that agitate a judge. Attorneys rarely are removed or dismissed in retaliation, though fear of that can weaken the defense…That power structure in California, Texas, Arizona and Idaho prevents attorney access to necessary resources, including investigators and expert witnesses…[One attorney] felt ‘disincentivized’ because judges have the power to not assign cases to court-appointed attorneys, though in 20 years Texas Panhandle judges never took away her cases. The structure created ‘subtle pressure’ to avoid questioning judges or filing motions that would ‘offend’ judges, she said[:] ‘If they chose to black ball you, they could[.]’ ”
In Maine, “[m]embers of Maine's judiciary committee voted unanimously to give the Maine commission on indigent legal services an additional $6 million. This comes as a reaction to what officials are calling a public defense crisis. ”
Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform
Permalink
January 27, 2023 at 12:25 pm
· Filed under Public Interest Law News Bulletin
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Photo: Harris and Ewing Collection, Library of Congress
Hello, interested public!
It’s a blockbuster of a news week, kicking off with a series of stories covering ChatGPT and the discussion of AI-generated answers in a legal context. Other major news includes guidance from the DOJ concerning discharging student debt in bankruptcy and a wide-ranging series of stories discussing recruitment and retention problems for local government attorneys. Connecting the dots on this subject, the Marshall Project reported on a decline in local government jobs over the period of the pandemic (see “Non-Profit & Gov’t Management”), while local examples of this nationwide trend can be found throughout the “Access to Justice” sections (both Civil & Criminal).
Take care of one another,
Sam
Editor’s Focus: AI-Driven Legal Services
In California, DoNotPay’s planned experiment with an AI-lawyer (covered in previous editions of this digest) “has been scrapped after ‘State bar prosecutors’ threatened the man behind the company that created the chatbot with prison time [presumably for unauthorized practice of law]. Joshua Browder, CEO of DoNotPay, on Wednesday tweeted that his company ‘is postponing our court case and sticking to consumer rights.’ ”
At the University of Minnesota Law School, “[a]n artificial intelligence tool called ChatGPT averaged a C-plus on exams[], according to four law professors who gave it a try… Its essays ‘were typically clear and well-crafted—perhaps even suspiciously so compared to real students writing a time-limited exam,’ the study said. And ChatGPT ‘displayed a strong grasp of basic legal rules.’ But when the essay answers were incorrect, ‘they were dramatically incorrect, often garnering the worst scores in the class,’ the study said. ChatGPT ‘struggled to identify relevant issues and often only superficially applied rules to facts as compared to real law students.’ ”
At the Suffolk University Law School’s Legal Innovation & Technology Lab, Prof. David Colarusso commented that “[f]olks keep joking their jobs are safe because #ChatGPT makes stuff up, but it's just a matter of time before folks address that. Case in point, I built a bot using GPT3 (the #LLM powering ChatGPT) that sources its answers from trusted texts. Here it is in "conversation" with my school's Clinical Information Packet: [] I have to work pretty hard to trip it up. We should be worrying about the centralization of power/scaling of bias that comes with monopoly. ”
In this editor’s opinion, a key hurdle people looking to deploy these tools in a legal context must clear is data privacy. Towards AI ran an informative article last Spring discussing the way OpenAI (the company behind ChatGPT) has been responding to requests from companies that text they use to train their tools not be retained by OpenAI for other purposes .
Finally, Barrons notes that “ChatGPT’s sudden ubiquity is raising a difficult issue. Are works created by ChatGPT protected by copyright laws? The answer is unclear. Unfortunately, the copyright code does not expressly address works of authorship created by machines…Microsoft is making a huge investment in OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. Analysts believe the AI technology will soon be available in products such as Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, the primary authorship tools of the business world. There is a strong likelihood that ChatGPT will soon be making paragraph-sized suggestions, real-time, as we write a story, type a report, or even write a contract. This reality makes it crucial to consider the legal protections (or lack thereof) around works created with generative AI and the current construction of the U.S. Copyright Act. ”
Student Loans & Student Debt
Reproductive Rights
In New Mexico, “[the state’s] top prosecutor…asked the state Supreme Court to nullify abortion ordinances that local elected officials have passed in conservative reaches of the Democratic-led state. ”
In Oregon, “[t]he Oregon Department of Justice and various law firms in the state announced a hotline Monday that will provide advice for people seeking access to abortions…Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said in a statement [that] ‘[t]his is especially important because we share a border with Idaho, which has a near-total abortion ban.’ ”
In West Virginia, “[s]tarting a nationwide courtroom battle over abortion pills that will likely end up at the Supreme Court, the drugmaker GenBioPro filed suit against West Virginia’s ban on the medication, mifepristone…In the lawsuit filed on Wednesday, GenBioPro, one of two domestic makers of the drug, says that the FDA’s powers over interstate commerce, which allow sales of the drug, supersede state laws such as West Virginia’s, a legal concept known as ‘preemption.’. ”
Non-Profit & Government Management & Hiring
In Indiana, “[t]he Indiana Supreme Court is seeking public comment on a proposed rule change that would broaden pro bono reporting requirements to include public service or charitable groups or organizations. ”
In the United States, “[a]fter three straight years of gains, foundation investments performed dismally last year, leading to a 19 percent decline in the value of their endowments, according to one estimate. The losses, which include grants and operating expenses foundations made last year, suggest foundations will have a difficult time maintaining their grant-making levels unless they dig into their endowments. ”
Also in the United States, HealthCareDive.com pointed out that “[a] plain reading of the [FTC] proposal would suggest that nonprofit organizations are exempt from the draft rule seeking to ban restrictive covenants in employment contracts. ” [Ed. The article’s author is likely referring to the text on pp. 111-112 of the draft rule, noting that “[s]ome entities that would otherwise be employers may not be subject to the Rule to the extent they are exempted from coverage under the FTC Act [including] an entity that is not ‘organized to carry on business for its own profit or that of its members.’ ”
Again also in the United States, “[a]n analysis of two years of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Bureau data shows a steady decline in both law enforcement and local government jobs during the pandemic. ”
In Washington DC, “[t]he Office of Personnel Management and Office of Management and Budget…issued long-awaited guidance on how agencies can expand their use of internships and ensure more of those opportunities are paid. ”
Access to Justice – Civil & Economic
In Toronto ON, “[a]n advertisement posted to Instagram by a Richmond Hill-based legal services firm has been drawing a lot of attention across the Greater Toronto Area at a time when inflation has bloated food prices. The ad, created by the firm We Defend You, tells potential clients “we defend anyone arrested for shoplifting food from the grocery stores for FREE!’ ”
Also in Ontario, “[t]he Aboriginal Legal Services (ALS) and Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) have entered into a new service agreement, increasing LAO’s investment in the legal aid and services ALS delivers. ”
In California, “[a] coalition of disability and civil rights advocates filed a lawsuit Thursday asking the California Supreme Court to block the rollout of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s far-reaching new plan to address severe mental illness by compelling treatment for thousands of people. ”
In Philadelphia PA, “[o]n Feb. 1, the city is expanding its Right to Counsel initiative, which started last February as a pilot program for tenants living in zip codes 19139 and 19121 in West and North Philadelphia…Now, tenants in the 19134 and 19144 zip codes, which includes small sections of West Mount Airy and East Falls, can access lawyers for free. ”
In Martinsville & Henry Counties VA, “Virginia Legal Aid Society Inc. has received a three-year funding amount of $428,230 from The Harvest Foundation to expand its eviction reduction programming[.] ”
In South Carolina, “[f]ollowing the success of the [Charleston Housing Court Pilot Project] in the Charleston area, [the Supreme Court of South Carolina] authorize[d] the expansion of the [program] to all counties in South Carolina[.] ”
In Washington DC, “The White House is preparing to roll out new measures as soon as this month to protect tenants in the wake of post-pandemic price spikes, according to housing advocates and industry lobbyists who have met with administration officials. ”
Also in Washington DC, “[t]he lead of the independent organization within the IRS charged with advising the agency on taxpayer issues wants it to provide its own free, direct e-file tax return system. ”
In Massachusetts, “[t]he chief justice of the state’s highest court…called on lawmakers to support a requested $49 million in the state’s fiscal 2024 budget to continue closing th[e justice] gap. ”
In Minnesota, the Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court, supported by others including the president of the Minnesota Bar Association and the Executive Director of the State Board of Public Defense, argued that “added stress and workload is contributing to a staffing crisis across our justice system, including shrinking numbers of courthouse clerks, public defenders, prosecutors, civil legal aid attorneys and law enforcement, probation and corrections officers. Recruiting new workers to fill these vacancies has become nearly impossible without the ability to offer competitive pay in this tight labor market. ”
In Nevada, “litigation on behalf of siblings Sylvia and Elvin Fred, who are both members of the Washoe Tribe, cuts to the heart of [civil rights advocates’ criticism decrying the lack of due process in civil asset forfeiture proceedings]. If successful, it stands to reshape the forfeiture process in Nevada — and give the Fred family members their three-bedroom Carson City house back for good[.] ”
In Utah, “[t]he Access to Justice department of the Utah State Bar has launched a new Utah Pro Bono Opportunity Portal in partnership with the Pro Bono Commission and sponsored by the Utah State Bar. This is a centralized dashboard using a system called Paladin that tracks pro bono opportunities in Utah in real time. These opportunities include Utah State Bar programs and listings from community partners. ”
Access to Justice – Criminal
In Maine, “[the] lead public defender for the state’s commission on indigent legal services has resigned, roughly one month after taking the position. ”
In Oregon, “[o]fficials have approved a plan for spending $10 million of emergency funding to address Oregon’s public defender crisis, which has left hundreds of people languishing in jails or in the community awaiting legal representation. ”
In Kansas, “public defense is at a crisis point, officials say, with overworked attorneys struggling to provide adequate services in the midst of a worker shortage. ”
In Minnesota, the Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court, supported by others including the president of the Minnesota Bar Association and the Executive Director of the State Board of Public Defense, argued that “added stress and workload is contributing to a staffing crisis across our justice system, including shrinking numbers of courthouse clerks, public defenders, prosecutors, civil legal aid attorneys and law enforcement, probation and corrections officers. Recruiting new workers to fill these vacancies has become nearly impossible without the ability to offer competitive pay in this tight labor market. ”
In Milwaukee WI, “[c]ounty officials ma[de a] desperate call for help with court backlog[.] ”
In Louisville KY, “public defenders continue to fight for [a] contract one year after [their] vote to unionize. ”
In Florida, “[f]or the first time in three years, Florida prosecutors and assistant public defenders got raises in the 2022-2023 budget — some $5,000 to $10,000 along with an inflation adjustment increase of more than five percent. But it’s still not enough in many cases to compete with private law firms, a state attorney and public defender told lawmakers Tuesday. ”
In Jefferson City MO, “[a] House bill was presented in the Judiciary Committee hearing Monday, which would modify past language in policy related to the funding for the Missouri State Public Defender. The purpose of HB 663 is to create the ‘Public Defender – Federal and Other Fund.’ ”
Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform
In King County WA, “King County Prosecuting Attorney Leesa Manion laid out her policy and practice changes for her new administration…in a press conference at the King County Courthouse. Among the announcements was the creation of two new divisions — one focused on gender-based violence and one tackling economic crimes and wage theft. ”
In New Mexico, “[state] Supreme Court Chief Justice Shannon Bacon…used the opportunity of the State of the Judiciary address — given once every four years — to defend bail reform and counter rhetoric alleging it made New Mexico less safe. ”
In Florida, “[a] federal judge upheld Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' suspension of a state prosecutor who DeSantis viewed as "woke" — but in doing so, condemned the governor for violating the prosecutor's right to free speech…In his order on Friday, [Judge] Hinkle wrote that, ‘The assertion that Mr. Warren neglected his duty or was incompetent is incorrect. This factual issue is not close.’…[but] Hinkle said that, while DeSantis was wrong to dismiss Warren, it was not within the court's power to reinstate him, and thus ruled in favor of the governor. ”
In Louisiana, “[t]he [US] Justice Department announced…that it has concluded there is probable cause to believe that the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections (LDOC) routinely confines people in its custody past the dates when they are legally entitled to be released from custody, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment…Between January and April 2022 alone, 26.8% of the people released from LDOC’s custody were held past their release dates. Of those overdetained people, 24% were held over for at least 90 days, and the median number of days overdetained was 29. ”
An attorney at the Federal Defenders of San Diego argued that “a new vacancy on the country’s largest federal appellate court [the 9th Cir.]…gives President Joe Biden a chance to remedy one of the federal judiciary’s most glaring oversights: More than 140 years after its establishment, the Ninth Circuit has never had a public defender among the ranks of its judges. ”
Permalink
January 20, 2023 at 12:37 pm
· Filed under Public Interest Law News Bulletin
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Photo: Harris and Ewing Collection, Library of Congress
Hello, interested public!
Major news this week focuses on criminal justice, including a new law review article demonstrating with data that courts presiding over police misconduct cases are more likely to admit facts concerning plaintiff-victims’ past misconduct into evidence than they are facts concerning officers’ past instances of misconduct. Meanwhile, the Governor of California is is proposing to slash the state’s public defense budget, the Pittsburgh Chief of Police is ignoring city ordinances, and Dodge County Wisconsin’s entire prosecutorial office has quit over low pay. In other news, a Boston College study examined the racially-disparate effect student loan debt will have when debtholders enter retirement and the IRS is gearing up for a hiring spree. As always, these stories and more are in the links below.
Take care of one another,
Sam
Editor’s Choice
At Stanford Law, “James Stone, ’23,…had been reading about communities nationwide moving toward making police misconduct records more accessible to the public. With his mind on the rules of evidence, including the nuanced situations where certain prior bad acts of defendants are admissible in criminal trials, he started thinking about the admissibility standards around past instances of misconduct by police officers who are sued in civil cases for excessive force.
A year of research and 17,000 words later, he has the answer to his question: no. The standards are not the same. In Past-Acts Evidence in Excessive Force Litigation, 100 Wash. U. L. Rev. 569, Stone critiques how courts’ interpretations of the long-held “objective reasonableness” standard, paired with Rule 404(b) of the Federal Rules of Evidence, cause judges to hold certain officer misconduct evidence irrelevant and therefore inadmissible at trial. Conversely, as he analyzes, many judges admit evidence of a plaintiff-victim’s past drug use, criminal activity, encounters with police, and gang affiliation under what he argues are strained relevance arguments. He undertakes the same analysis to rules around use of past acts to impeach the testimony of plaintiffs and accused officers.
[According to the co-director of the Stanford Criminal Justice Center,] ‘No one else had ever taken the time to do that as systematically as James has, and the many hours he put into researching these cases allowed him to make thoughtful and well-grounded recommendations for using evidence law to make police misconduct litigation fairer and more meaningful.’ ”
In New York State, two law students at NYU argued in Slate that “[s]tacking the courts with prosecutors and corporate lawyers pushes students away from careers in public defense, legal aid, and legal services for the indigent. High salaries and a clear path to the bench for prosecutors and corporate lawyers already make these careers attractive. As students, we see the prestige afforded to corporate lawyers and prosecutors and the heightened scrutiny that public interest lawyers receive in judicial confirmations; they are often accused of bias merely for doing constitutionally required jobs. We are constantly thinking about how we will be able to pay student loans and afford rising costs of living in public interest careers. Routinely, we see our peers switch away from public interest careers and 71 percent make the switch because of student debt. Despite the urgent need for public interest lawyers, superior prospects push students into careers where they will learn to advocate for the interests of the wealthy and powerful, no matter how abhorrent those interests are. After dissuading students from public interest careers, the judicial bias for prosecutors and corporate lawyers then fast-tracks these acquired viewpoints to the bench. This lack of professional diversity deprives the court of crucial perspectives from fields that expose lawyers to how the law impacts ordinary people. ”
NOTE: This opinion piece was published specifically concerning NY Gov. Hochul’s ongoing effort to elevate Justice Hector LaSalle to the New York Court of Appeals over the objections of (as the students put it) “legal advocacy groups, unions, reproductive justice organization, and others.”
Student Loans & Student Debt
Immigration & Refugee Issues
In Ontario, “[a] recent Court of Appeal case illustrates why defence lawyers, judges, and Crowns should always be aware of an accused’s immigration status before a guilty plea is entered, says Kenneth Jim, senior criminal counsel with Legal Aid Ontario. ”
In Cambridge MA, “[a]fter a groundswell of criticism, the Harvard Kennedy School…reversed its decision not to offer a fellowship to a leading human rights activist who contends he was rejecgted because of his past criticism of Israel. ”
In New York NY, “[a]fter New York City received over 3,100 asylum-seekers in the last week, including a record number [of] 835 last Thursday, Mayor Eric Adams called on the state to provide more resources to deal with the ongoing issue. ”
Environmental Justice
Reproductive Rights
Non-Profit & Government Management & Hiring
Access to Justice – Civil & Economic
In Massachusetts, “[a] state legal aid agency [is] seek[ing] more oversight when DCF removes children from homes without [a] court order[.] ”
In Louisiana, “[t]he [US] Justice Department announced [] the resolution of a matter involving the Louisiana Supreme Court (LASC) based on actions LASC has taken to improve access to state court proceedings and operations for people with limited English proficiency (LEP). ”
In California, “[t]he California Bar spent $552,000 over five years and a chunk of lobbying time to convince lawmakers to expand access to justice, the agency said in a report[.] ”
In Nebraska, “[a] dozen counties [] currently have no practicing attorneys…[a]nd by 2027, four more counties are projected to join them, according to the Nebraska State Bar Association. ”
In Alaska, “[l]egal experts discuss[ed] Alaska’s recent approval of the use of supervised non-lawyers to provide limited-scope legal assistance on the latest episode of LSC’s “Talk Justice” podcast[.] ”
In Nevada, “[w]ith a key source of pandemic-era rental help winding down in Southern Nevada, legal aid groups are pushing for more tenant protections. ”
Access to Justice – Criminal
In California, “[a]s California's budget faces big cuts amid a revenue shortfall, some lawyers say Governor Gavin Newsom wants to gut public safety funding at a time when critical reforms within the criminal justice system rely on state support. Public defenders in Oakland and San Francisco have been quick to criticize Newsom’s proposed budget for 2023-2024 presented on Jan. 10, which cuts significantly from a public defense budget. ”
In Maine, “[s]tate officials say they’re barely keeping up with the demand for lawyers to represent the poor in criminal and family cases, even as Maine takes gradual steps to shed its status as the only state without a public defender system. ”
In Dodge County WI, “[t]here will be no state prosecutors working in Dodge County as of Tuesday, Jan. 17, according to former Dodge County District Attorney (DA) Kurt Klomberg. Klomberg, the Dodge County DA since 2010, resigned on Friday, citing the office's staffing shortage…Klomberg said the Wisconsin District Attorney's Association is partnering with other state agencies in a proposal before the legislature to raise starting salaries to $70,000. ”
In Summerville SC, “[the] Town Council recognized the need for a full-time prosecutor to handle a growing backlog of criminal cases at the group’s Jan. 12 public meeting, but opted to put off on adding a new public litigator until the new fiscal year. ”
In Oswego County NY, “[although i]n late 2021, Oswego County legislators voted to use state money to establish a public defender’s office to provide legal representation for defendants who can’t afford a lawyer. More than a year later, the Office of the Oswego County Public Defender exists in name only. ”
Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform
In Pittsburgh PA, “Pittsburgh Police officers have been instructed [by the Acting Chief of Police] to resume enforcing minor traffic violations…despite a 2021 ordinance to prevent them from doing so in the absence of a larger infraction….[Active Chief] Strangecki told WESA another reason for the reversal was to boost morale among the city’s police ranks. ”
In California, “Meta said it’s suing ‘scraping-for-hire’ service Voyager Labs for allegedly using fake accounts, proprietary software, and a sprawling network of IP addresses to surreptitiously collect massive amounts of personal data from users of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other social networking sites…Among the California-based Facebook users to have their data scraped, Meta said, were ‘employees of nonprofit organizations, universities, news media organizations, health care facilities, the armed forces of the United States, and local, state, and federal government agencies, as well as full-time parents, retirees, and union members.’…Among Voyager Labs' customers, according to the exhibits, is the Los Angeles Police Department. ” (emphasis added)
In Milwaukee WI, “a group of prosecutors from the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office who spend more time in specific neighborhoods [working out of police stations] than at the courthouse. They make up the Community Prosecution Unit, which has been slowly building back up after budget constraints. ”
In Cleveland OH, “[after] Cleveland’s city prosecutor [charged] two officers with assaulting people in handcuffs…[t]he police union wants the chief prosecutor off the job and one defense attorney calls the move to issue arrest warrants in the cases an abuse of power. ”
In Allegheny County PA, “Chief Public Defender Matt Dugan announc[ed a] run for district attorney[.] ”
Permalink
January 13, 2023 at 4:52 pm
· Filed under Public Interest Law News Bulletin
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Photo: Harris and Ewing Collection, Library of Congress
Hello, interested public!
Squeaking in under the wire this week, but here we are with the news. In Washington DC, amicus briefs are stacking up in support of the Biden Administration’s student loan forgiveness plan while the Administration followed up with new proposals for low-income borrowers that critics pointed out leave graduate students out of the picture. Public Defense is getting attention from high officials across the United States. Florida is facing a class action over its decision to fly Venezualan migrants to Martha’s Vineyard last September, while in New York advocates are pushing for an immigrants’ right to counsel in deportation cases. Nebraska, in a Supreme Court case, is considering whether tenants facing eviction have a constitutional right to a jury trial. As always, these stories and more are in the links below.
Take care of one another,
Sam
Student Loans & Student Debt
Immigration & Refugee Issues
In San Diego CA, “[a] legal defense [drafted after Trump’s family separation policy] exposed Section 1326 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which makes it a crime to unlawfully return to the U.S. after deportation, removal or denied admission, as racist and a violation of equal protection rights guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment. And it became the legal framework for a never-before-seen ruling in August 2021 by Nevada U.S. District Judge Miranda Du. She struck down the law as unconstitutional and discriminatory against Latinos when she dismissed an illegal reentry charge against Mexican immigrant Gustavo Carrillo Lopez, though she didn’t block enforcement and prosecutions haven’t stopped as the government appeals the case. ”
In Florida, “[the State] may end up paying up to $1 million to defend itself in a class action lawsuit filed over its decision to fly nearly 50 Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts last September. ”
In New York, “[the state] could soon become the first state to establish the guaranteed right to counsel for people facing deportation and ensure fairness in immigration court with the proposed Access to Representation Act. ”
In Boston MA, “Harvard University has rescinded a fellowship it had offered to a leading human rights activist over what he says was his group’s criticism of Israel. Kenneth Roth, who headed Human Rights Watch until recently, was recruited last year by the Harvard Kenney School’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy to become a fellow. He accepted. But a few weeks later, in July, Roth said the center called and told him that the school’s dean had vetoed the fellowship. Roth believes it was due to his and his group’s criticism of Israel. Over the years, the group has issued a number of reports saying that Israel appears to have committed war crimes against the Palestinians. ”
Rule of Law; Free and Fair Elections
Non-Profit & Government Management & Hiring
Access to Justice – Civil & Economic
In Jersey City NJ, “one group wants to give tenants an attorney to fight evictions, so the deck isn’t stacked in favor of landowners[;… a] town hall…include[d] speakers on housing justice topics, feedback from the audience, and a presentation on the Right to Counsel campaign. ”
In Lincoln NE, “[t]he Nebraska Supreme Court began hearing arguments Wednesday on a case looking at whether Nebraskans being evicted from their homes have a constitutional right to a jury trial. ”
In Georgia, “[s]ix legal kiosks will be installed in rural Georgia counties, allowing residents to receive legal assistance and information at safe and convenient locations. At the kiosks, users will be able to apply for legal services, meet with their attorneys virtually and access automated self-help tools for pro-se litigants. ”
In Clark County NV, “[t]he Civil Law Self-Help Center located at the Regional Justice Center is assisting 300 people a day who are seeking help because they are at imminent risk of eviction. According to a release, the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada is hosting a briefing [on the crisis] on Tuesday, January 17, 2023, at 9:30 a.m. ”
In Florida, “The Supreme Court is weighing a Florida Bar panel’s recommendations for improving access to legal services, proposals that run the gamut from a commission to coordinate access for self-represented litigants, to expanded use of certified legal interns and better promotion of pre-paid legal service plans. ” (detailed in their report, available here )
Access to Justice – Criminal
Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform
In North Carolina, “Duke University has released the findings of a study of plea agreements in the Berkshire District Attorney’s office that it describes as an unprecedented look into the shadowy world of dealmaking that accounts for the conclusion of the overwhelming majority of criminal cases. ”
In Ontario, “Federal Justice Minister David Lametti and Cassidy Caron, the president of the Métis National Council, announced that $1.5 million in federal funding will go to ‘support Métis-led engagement that will inform the development of an Indigenous Justice Strategy to address systemic discrimination and the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in Canada’s justice system.’ ”
In San Francisco CA, “[the] Public Defender’s Office is accusing the District Attorney of violating state law that protects juvenile records. ”
Also in San Francisco, “[f]ederal public defenders representing indigent criminal defendants in several states including Arizona, California and Texas are urging appeals courts to strike down prohibitions on criminal defendants and felons possessing guns. ”
In New York, “Governor Kathy Hochul is once again proposing to give judges more discretion when setting bail…But bail reform advocates argue that the least restrictive standard already allows judges to look at a person’s criminal history and flight risk. They also say that this “least-restrictive” standard has been a “well-established United States Supreme Court precedent protecting the presumption of innocence.” Without this standard, Legal Aid says more people will end up in jail before they are convicted of any crime. ”
Also in New York, “senators, union leaders, reproductive rights organizations, and advocates for due process and civil rights gathered at the state capitol building in Albany to call on the governor to change her mind on nominating LaSalle, citing the judge’s judicial records — which critics say includes decisions that are anti-labor, anti-due process, and anti-abortion. ”
In Harrisburg PA, “[t]he Pennsylvania Senate on Wednesday indefinitely postponed the impeachment trial of Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, adding new uncertainty to an effort by Republicans in the state legislature to remove the city prosecutor. ”
In Bexar County TX, “Harvard Law School has launched a study in Bexar County to learn more about the effects of short-term jail time on people who are arrested but haven’t seen their case determined. ”
Permalink
January 6, 2023 at 2:01 pm
· Filed under Public Interest Law News Bulletin
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Photo: Harris and Ewing Collection, Library of Congress
Hello, interested public! I stepped away at the end of last year for family reasons, but I’m back. And as it happens, there’s still news to cover. Major stories (for the period since December 25th) include the Supreme Court case that will determine the fate of the Biden administration’s student debt relief scheme, a bellwether ruling in the impeachment proceedings against Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner, and a report out of Connecticut showing that the state’s new right-to-counsel-in-eviction program saved the government millions in emergency services. As usual, these stories and more are in the links below.
Take care of one another,
Sam
Editor’s Choice
Student Loans & Student Debt
In Washington DC, “[t]he U.S. Departments of Education (ED) and Justice (DOJ) remain committed and confident in the Biden-Harris administration’s student debt relief program, filing a legal brief with the U.S. Supreme Court about it, according to a statement from Secretary of Education Dr. Miguel A. Cardona. ”
Also in Washington DC, “[t]ucked inside the $1.7 trillion government spending bill…are a host of significant retirement reforms, including a series of provisions that experts say is nothing short of a redefinition of the private retirement system itself…Of interest to people holding student loans is Section 110 of the bill that treats student loans as deferrals for the purpose of retirement savings. What that means in practice is, beginning in 2024, if the company chooses to provide the benefit, a worker could write a check for their monthly student loan bill, but in the process also earn a “match” for their 401(k), 403(b), or SIMPLE IRA account. ”
In New York, “[t]he New York State Department of Labor says it has put enforcement measures in place to avert employment certification delays for those applying for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. This program allows eligible full-time public service and nonprofit workers to apply to have the remainder of their federal student loan debt forgiven after 120 qualifying payments. ”
Immigration & Refugee Issues
Rule of Law; Free and Fair Elections
Reproductive Rights
In South Carolina, “[t]he South Carolina Supreme Court…struck down a ban on abortion after six weeks, ruling the restriction enacted by the Deep South state violates a state constitutional right to privacy. ”
In Washington DC, “[the Justice Department said in a new opinion that t]he U.S. Postal Service can continue to deliver abortion pills through the mail regardless of their destination and the laws in that state. ”
Also Washington DC, “U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., along with Senator Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Congresswoman Susan Wild, D-Pa., introduced the Right to Build Families Act of 2022. The bill, if enacted, would prohibit state and local governments from imposing limitations to access to assisted reproductive technology, as well as all medically necessary care surrounding such technology. ”
Non-Profit & Government Management & Hiring
In Washington DC, “[a]s part of a rules package governing the 118th Congress, House Republicans will allow individual lawmakers to reduce the number of federal workers at specific agencies or cut their compensation as a provision of or an amendment to an appropriations bill. The legislative policy, known as “the Holman Rule,” dates back to the late 19th century and was last revived in 2017. Democrats eliminated the provision when they took control of the House in 2019. ”
Also in Washington DC, “[e]fforts have been underway for a while now on return-to-office strategies and real estate assessments for the federal workforce, following maximum telework during the initial phases of the coronavirus pandemic. But earlier this week, the mayor of the nation’s capital asked for some more specifics: she said she wants “decisive action” by the federal government on what the future of the federal office will look like, in order to help revitalize the downtown area of Washington, D.C. after the pandemic. ”
In New York, “recently enacted New York State law amends previous rules governing nonprofits. Under the newly-enacted changes, nonprofit leaders may conduct votes without holding meetings with the consent of their members. The new law additionally modifies the terms served by directors appointed to fill vacancies and clarifies quorum requirements. ”
In Maryland, “[a] new collective bargaining agreement will provide legal employees with better resources as a vote passed the measure at a rate of 92%…With this new agreement in place, legal workers will have better benefits. ‘We improved wages, we helped expand parental leave, we are contributing to retirement from the minute they walk in the door, we want to make sure they are set up for their lives, if they want to stay with us, we want to make sure they’re well taken care of,’ [said Maryland Legal Aid’s ED]. ”
In California, “[a] new law [] went into effect [that] requires every company with more than 15 employees looking to fill a job that could be performed from the state of California [to disclose salaries on job listings]. ”
In San Diego CA, “[a] San Diego county jury…awarded a former deputy public defender $2.6 million in his wrongful termination lawsuit. The Superior Court jury concluded the San Diego County Public Defender Office fired Zach Davina, who is gay, in 2020 because of his gender expression and for complaining about what he believed were racist comments made by a supervisor toward a Black and Latino colleague. ”
Access to Justice – Civil & Economic
In Connecticut, “[a] program offering free legal representation to low-income tenants facing eviction likely saved the state millions it would have otherwise spent providing emergency shelter services, child welfare, health care and education services, a new report shows. ”
In San Francisco CA, “U.S. Magistrate Judge Donna Ryu issued [an] emergency order [banning SFPD and the city from clearing encampments of unhoused people]…citing a 2018 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision Martin v. Boise (which the Supreme Court refused to strike down) which said that cities can not prosecute people for staying on the street unless they can provide adequate shelter bed options[.] ”
In California, “[the policy providing an] additional 80 hours of paid leave related to COVID-19…end[ed] Dec. 31 even as coronavirus infections and deaths in L.A. County hit their highest rates since the summer. This winter has also seen a surge in other respiratory illnesses. ”
In Washington DC, “[the] Legal Services Corp., which supports legal aid organizations around the country…has received a $560 million appropriation from Congress — a 14.5% increase over last year’s $489 million and the largest percentage boost in funding since 1979…In addition to its appropriation, LSC will receive another $20 million from the emergency supplement funding for natural disasters which was attached to the omnibus bill. ”
In Colorado, “the East County Housing Opportunity Coalition, or ECHO…produced a report last month outlining the issues, and now, ECHO leaders are sounding the alarm to encourage the state legislature to examine Colorado housing laws and consider policy changes that will help renters the next time there’s a disaster. ” [report available here ]
In Kansas, “[t]he Kansas Supreme Court has adopted a new plan to expand access to justice for court users with limited English proficiency. ”
Access to Justice – Criminal
Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform
In Philadelphia PA, “[a] Pennsylvania court agreed with at least one major point made by Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner in his lawsuit challenging the state Legislature’s attempt to impeach him. In an order filed on Friday, Democratic Judge Ellen Ceisler wrote that none of the seven articles of impeachment against Krasner satisfied the requirement imposed by Article VI, Section 6 of the Pennsylvania Constitution. That article states that impeachment charges against a public official must allege conduct that constitutes what would amount to the common law crime of ‘misbehavior in office.’ ”
In Denver CO, “[the] City Council approved Lisabeth Pérez Castle for the role [of Independent Monitor] after the Citizen Oversight Board announced its unanimous decision to select her in December. In the role, Pérez will be Denver’s top law enforcement watchdog. Her background is in criminal defense. She previously worked at the Colorado State Public Defender’s Office and has had a private practice in Denver since 2000. ”
In Cleveland OH, “[n]early two years have passed without a confirmed federal prosecutor in northern Ohio, the longest the district has gone without one in some 70 years. ”
In Illinois, “the Illinois Supreme Court halted the abolition of the cash bail system in the state…just a day before that landmark criminal justice reform was poised to take effect. ”
In Los Angeles CA, “[a] veteran Los Angeles County prosecutor scolded his boss Thursday, saying his progressive reforms and management style have alienated his colleagues and turned the nation’s largest district attorney’s office into a ‘managerial dumpster fire.’ ”
In Washington DC, “[w]hen Rep.-elect Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) is sworn into Congress…she will become one of the few members to have worked as a public defender.Many members of Congress are lawyers, and most of those who worked in the criminal justice system were prosecutors[.] ”
Permalink
November 7, 2022 at 5:01 pm
· Filed under Public Interest Law News Bulletin
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Photo: Harris and Ewing Collection, Library of Congress
Hello, interested public! It’s been an uneven few months, but I’m going to do my best to bring the Digest back as a regular feature each week–either on Friday or (as now) the following Monday. Over the past week, news related to student loan forgiveness and the public service loan forgiveness and reform continued to fall thick and fast, while in New York New York, Mayor Eric Adams unveiled a new city program he hopes will allow the city to harness junior attorneys from law firms as city employees without city salaries.
In other news, the PSJD Public Interest Mini-Conference is just a few weeks away! If you’re a public interest employer or a school counselor involved in public interest job search issues, consider joining our conversation!
Take care of one another,
Sam
Editor’s Choice
Student Loans & Student Debt
In the United States, “[c]lose to 26 million Americans have applied for student loan forgiveness, and the Biden administration has already approved 16 million of the requests…[y]et its entire loan cancellation plan could be in jeopardy due to the legal challenges brought by Republicans, it warned. ”
In Washington DC, “U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett [] again declined to block President Joe Biden's plan to cancel billions of dollars in student debt, this time in a challenge brought by two Indiana borrowers, even as a lower court considers whether to lift a freeze it imposed on the program in a different case. ”
Also in Washington DC, “the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a blog post, exploring the potential impact of student loan payment reinstatement. The CFPB found that student loan borrowers are increasingly likely to struggle once their monthly student loan payments are reinstated. However, the CFPB also found that student debt cancellation may substantially reduce the number of borrowers at risk when the payment suspension ends. ”
In California, “Gov. Gavin Newsom [] called on the California Legislature to act quickly to prevent student loan borrowers from having to pay state income taxes on up to $20,000 in federal debt forgiveness. ”
In Albuquerque NM, “President Joe Biden’s appearance at Central New Mexico Community College focused on student debt relief and gave the state’s Democratic leaders a chance to boast about new education opportunities offered to students from preschool up to college. ”
In Albany NY, “[p]rivate student loan borrowers won a nationwide injunction barring Navient Corp. from trying to collect on certain loans that they believe should have been discharged in bankruptcy, but their quest for financial relief from the debt servicer is just heating up. ”
Rule of Law; Free and Fair Elections
In Washington DC, “Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said [] that if the U.S. Supreme Court sides with Arizona in a capital case over whether a death row inmate was properly denied post-conviction relief, the ruling could give states a roadmap for defying the high court's criminal law decisions. ”
In Palo Alto CA, “Stanford Law School has announced the launch of a new rule of law center, thanks to a ‘significant gift’ from former ABA President William ‘Bill’ Neukom and his wife, Sally Neukom. The Sally B. and William H. Neukom Center for the Rule of Law will support faculty and student work on issues such as impartial justice, fair and open government, and laws that protect fundamental rights. ”
In San Francisco, “[d]evastating cuts to Twitter’s workforce [] four days before the midterm elections[] are fueling anxieties among political campaigns and election offices that have counted on the social network’s staff to help them combat violent threats and viral lies. ”
In Washington DC, “[a] warning about the threat of political violence heading into the 2022 midterm elections was issued to state and local law enforcement officials by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on…the same day that Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi’s husband was hospitalized after a home invasion by a lone right-wing extremist seeking to harm her. This incident is the latest in an increasing stream of extremist confrontations taking place across the United States in recent years. ”
In New York NY, “[t]he Legal Aid Society, a legal advocacy group in New York City, rallied outside of the state’s Board of Elections (BOE) building demanding a more accessible voting process for incarcerated people. ”
In Chicago IL, “[t]wo ABA groups have launched initiatives with the aim of strengthening election protection and the public’s trust in the electoral process. Perfecting Democracy is seeking volunteers, while Defending Democracy seeks to educate the public. ” (emphasis added)
Environmental Concerns
Reproductive Rights
Non-Profit & Government Management & Hiring
Access to Justice – Civil & Economic
In the United States, “[e]viction filings have been on the rise and were above their historical averages in half of the 1,059 counties tracked by Legal Services Corp., a federally-funded legal aid group, during either August or September. The problem is expected to get worse in the coming months as federal rental assistance money runs out and people are unable to keep pace with rising rents and decades-high inflation, according to interviews with more than a dozen housing advocates, government officials and industry experts. ”
Meanwhile, in Nebraska “Legal Aid of Nebraska [is] argu[ing] that [a Nebraska law empowering judges to determine if residents should be removed from their home] goes against the constitutional right to a jury trial. And they’re taking the issue all the way to the Nebraska Supreme Court. ”
Meanwhile, in South Carolina, “[a] new referral program offers legal aid in 10 counties for individuals facing eviction. ”
Meanwhile, in Detroit MI, “Detroiters facing eviction aren't getting the help they need because the city has failed to set up its new eviction prevention office, housing advocates say. ”
In Santa Fe NM, “[l]ibraries are helping to connect New Mexicans with resources on civil legal matters through a partnership between the State Library and the Commission on Access to Justice. ”
In New York NY, Gothamist.com profiled the “tech hub” that Family Legal Care opened “to provide people navigating the court system with computers, private internet access, in-person tech support, and a telephone helpline with bilingual legal advice. ”
In Washington DC, “Attorney General Karl A. Racine today announced that his office succeeded in stopping the Janet Keenan Housing Corporation, which provides affordable housing to low-income DC residents, from attempting to sell their property for private purposes in violation of District non-profit law. ”
Access to Justice – Criminal
In Washington DC, “[t]he Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs today announced awards totaling more than $136 million to reform state and local juvenile justice systems, provide youth violence prevention and intervention services, support mentoring programs and reentry services for young people and their families, meet the needs of vulnerable youth and study outcomes for justice-involved youth. ”
In Michigan, “[a] new state rule will set minimum rates for attorneys who represent indigent defendants. It complies with recommendations made by the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission. Public defenders would make a minimum of $100 an hour under the rules approved by the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. The rate will go as high as $120 an hour depending on the seriousness of the charges. Also, costs for experts and investigators will be reimbursed under the rules. ”
In Benton County AR, “[l]awyers who sued a [county] judge over whether criminal defendants should be provided a lawyer at first appearance and bond hearings want to add more defendants. The defense claims the request is a futile attempt to avoid the case being dismissed. ”
In Louisville KY, “representatives of the public defenders union…[will bring] their employer, the Louisville-Jefferson County Public Defender Corporation…to court, accusing [them] of violating the National Labor Relations Act, the longstanding federal law that guarantees private sector employees the right to organize, strike and engage in collective bargaining. ”
In Mississippi, Mississippi Today observed that “Mississippi spends significantly less money on the public defender system than its counterpart, the district attorney’s offices,” arguing that “[t]his funding discrepancy results in a decentralized indigent defense system that fails to provide state oversight and ensure independence from the judiciary. Since the system allows judges in counties without a funded public defender’s office to have control over how attorneys are chosen and compensated, indigent defense attorneys might fear that when they push too hard, they will lose their job. ”
Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform
Permalink
September 2, 2022 at 3:30 pm
· Filed under Public Interest Law News Bulletin
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Photo: Harris and Ewing Collection, Library of Congress
Hello, interested public! Hope you’re all hanging in there. It’s been another week and the implications of President Biden’s student loan relief policy are still starting to sink in. In particular, policy analysis of the way loan relief restructures income-based payments going forward is starting to happen, and individual states are weighing in on whether loan relief will be treated as taxable income in their jurisdictions. In other news, a lawsuit filed in Texas alleges that new abortion restrictions infringe on individuals Constitutional freedom of travel, a bipartisan group of criminal justice leaders condemned Gov. DeSantis’ decision to remove a locally-elected district attorney, and the New Republic reported that “in 2019, the IRS’s watchdog evaluated a representative sample of organizations using the EZ form and found that nearly 50 percent did not qualify for their tax-exempt status. ” All these stories and more are in the links below.
Take care of one another,
Sam
Editor’s Choice
In last week’s digest, I referenced an article arguing that “perhaps even more significant is the Biden administration’s proposal to restructure how loans are repaid, giving future borrowers a lot more leeway when it comes to paying back debt.” This week, a policy paper elaborates on this point, arguing that “going forward, these new rules could quite radically alter the incentives of colleges and students when it comes to college prices, institutional financial aid, how much debt to take on, and how to approach repayment. ”
In St. Paul MN, “Maureen Onyelobi and Jeffery Young began classes with St. Paul’s Mitchell Hamline School of Law in pursuit of law degrees. Unlike most remote students, who might Zoom into their classes from home or a co-working space, they’re dialing in from two of Minnesota’s correctional facilities – Onyelobi from a women’s prison in Shakopee, Young from a men’s prison in Bayport. Thanks to a five-year variance from the American Bar Association that allows the school to admit up to two fully-remote incarcerated students annually, Onyelobi and Young last month became the first students in the nation to attend an American Bar Association-approved law school from prison. ”
Student Loans & Student Debt
Across the United States, “President Joe Biden’s announcement of up to $20,000 in student debt cancellation for millions of borrowers is expected to bring legal challenges to the executive branch’s authority to act on this issue…The president himself had questioned his ability to act unilaterally in the past, but top lawyers at the Justice and Education departments released legal opinions Wednesday saying the 2003 HEROES Act gives the administration “sweeping authority” to reduce or eliminate student debt during war or a national emergency. ”
Also across the United States, borrowers are learning on a state-by-state basis whether their student loan forgiveness will be taxable or not: As CNBC put it, “[w]hile the preliminary analysis shows some states may tax student loan forgiveness, there’s still time for policy changes. ”
A few state-specific stories addressing this question:
Meanwhile, in Washington DC, “[n]early 100 House Republicans signed onto a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., calling on her to hold President Biden accountable for his $500 billion student debt handout. ”
Also meanwhile in Washington DC, “Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) told CNN…that President Biden prioritized the wrong people in his student loan relief announcement this week—despite previously calling for that relief just years prior ‘There are a lot of people hurting in our society right now,’ he said. ‘People are getting crushed with inflation, crushed with gas prices, food prices, and all the rest. And I think a targeted approach right now really does send the wrong message.’ But Ryan’s objection flew in the face of an October 2018 tweet in which he pleaded for student debt relief. He followed that tweet with House votes in 2020 that supported $10,000 in student debt relief. ”
Again also meanwhile in Washington DC, “Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is renewing the call to restore bankruptcy protections for student-loan borrowers…Warren wants Attorney General Merrick Garland to ensure bankruptcy becomes a viable route to providing relief. ”
Also again also meanwhile in Washington DC, “[Senator] Sanders aid, ‘I know it is shocking to some Republicans that the government actually on occasion does something to benefit working families and low-income people. I don’t hear any of these Republicans squawking when we give massive tax breaks to billionaires.’ ”
Rule of Law
In Tallahassee FL, “a bipartisan group of 61 criminal justice leaders – including former Florida Supreme Court Chief Justices, U.S. Attorneys, judges and elected prosecutors – requested that the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida accept an amicus brief urging the court to protect prosecutorial discretion and order the Florida governor to rescind his unlawful order removing Andrew Warren as the duly elected State Attorney of Hillsborough County, Fla. ”
In West Palm Beach FL, “[a] federal judge…appeared sympathetic to former President Donald Trump's request to appoint a special master to review the documents the FBI seized from his home in August, though she declined to issue a ruling immediately on the matter…’Ultimately, what is the harm of appointing a special master to review these materials?’ asked Cannon, a Trump appointee. ‘What I'm wondering from the government – what is the harm beyond delaying the investigation?’ ”
In Philadelphia PA, “President Joe Biden…issued a warning against what he described as “MAGA Republicans” and extremist threats to the nation, reminding Americans that democracy is not guaranteed…The speech [] comes amid an ongoing investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and after the F.B.I. served a search warrant at Trump’s Florida residence for classified documents last month. ”
Free and Fair Elections
Reproductive Rights
Non-Profit & Government Management & Hiring
Access to Justice – Civil & Economic
In Edmonton and Calgary AB, “lawyers who handle legal aid work are rallying…to push for more funding…They are frustrated that Justice Minister Tyler Shandro has not approved more money for the legal aid program, which lawyers say is already $80 million short of the government’s commitment. ”
Across the United States, since “the Supreme Court struck down the down the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) eviction moratorium one year ago…eviction filings have returned to pre-pandemic levels and, in some places, even exceeded them. Although the job market has mostly rebounded from the early days of the pandemic, inflation and skyrocketing rent prices have pushed many renters deeper into a financial hole. ”
In Washington DC, “a Democratic senator urged in a letter to the US labor secretary [that t]he Biden Administration should investigate and regulate how companies use technology to surveil and punish workers[.] ”
In Nebraska, “Native Americans shared their experiences in the judicial system as judges from state, tribal and federal courts listened during a meeting earlier this month. Judges and other representatives of the Nebraska Consortium of Tribal, State and Federal Courts traveled to the Panhandle on Aug. 15 and Aug. 16 to hear from Native American community members. The two sessions were the last of public engagement sessions held by the consortium as it sought to hear from the community about their experiences and perceptions of the tribal, state and federal courts. ”
Access to Justice – Criminal
In Alberta, “[c]riminal defence lawyers escalated job action [] in an ongoing dispute with the provincial government over the amount of compensation paid by Legal Aid Alberta…’We will also begin refusing certificates for new cases for the most serious criminal charges, including sexual offences, most firearms-related crimes and homicides,” said the statement on behalf of the groups.’ ”
In El Paso TX, “El Paso County Courthouse continued with the dismissal of criminal cases…The cases dismissed were a total of 75 out of the 616 motions to dismiss that was filed by Chief Public Defender Kelli Childress last Wednesday. Childress added there are another 1,100 criminal cases that could also be eligible for dismissal due to them surpassing the 180 days to be indicted. ‘I’ve visited a number of counties' arrest and pre-indictment processes and I’m not aware of any county that has a situation like this,’ [Childress] said. ”
In Colorado, “public defenders launched a unionization drive…hoping to organize attorneys, paralegals, investigators, social workers, and administrative staff even though Colorado law blocks them from collective bargaining. ”
Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform
Permalink
August 26, 2022 at 1:19 pm
· Filed under Public Interest Law News Bulletin
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Photo: Harris and Ewing Collection, Library of Congress
Hello, interested public! Hope you’re all hanging in there. The major news this week has been anticipated for quite some time, but now that it’s here it will likely take a while for us all to unpack. (I speak, of course, of the Biden Administration’s new student loan forgiveness and reform policies.) In other major news, many states continue to see a shortage of criminal defenders–and some states have allocated or are considering allocating millions of dollars in funding to attempt to do something about their crises. In Canada, British Columbia is weighing whether to allow a class action lawsuit to proceed which would challenge the province’s approach to legal aid for single mothers and Montreal is piloting a new legal services model that relies on law students.
Take care of one another,
Sam
Student Loans & Student Debt
In Washington DC, “President Joe Biden announced the cancellation of up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt for borrowers making less than $125,000 a year or $250,000 for married couples. The plan is expected to help many of the over 40 million Americans with student loans and completely wipe out the balances of as many as 15 million borrowers. Among the over 40 million receiving relief, Pell Grant recipients, public servants, millennials, Black borrowers, and even future students could stand to benefit most from the administration's announcement and accompanying proposals. ”
Relatedly, “[t]he White House caused a stir on Twitter Thursday afternoon by calling out several Republican lawmakers who criticized President Joe Biden's move to forgive up to $20,000 in student loan debt for many borrowers, pointing out that some of the critics’ businesses had more than $1 million in federal loans forgiven as part of the pandemic-era Paycheck Protection Program. ”
Yahoo observed that “perhaps even more significant is the Biden administration’s proposal to restructure how loans are repaid, giving future borrowers a lot more leeway when it comes to paying back debt. ”
In the Atlantic, Professor Joseph Stiglitz argued that “[w]hatever your view of student-debt cancellation, the inflation argument is a red herring and should not influence policy. Taking that logic to the extreme, canceling food stamps would dofar more to reduce inflation–but that would be cruel and inhumane, and fortunately no one has suggested doing so. A closer look at the student-debt-cancellation program suggests that the new student-loan policy may even reduce inflation; at most, its inflationary impact will be minuscule, and the long-term benefits to the economy are likely to be significant. ”
Slate observed that “[i]t’s easy to imagine the Supreme Court ruling that the secretary [of Education] must identify a more specific class of borrowers whose ability to pay off loans was demonstrably harmed by the pandemic. If the court chooses this route, though, there’s a straightforward fix: Biden can simply announce that any borrower affected by the pandemic can apply for relief; if they can prove hardship, their debts get canceled. The Heroes Act, of course, says such “case-by-case” adjudication is unnecessary. And this method would increase administrative burdens while shrinking the pool of beneficiaries, since some eligible borrowers will fail to apply. ”
The American Prospect argued that “the way for the Biden administration to…manage the transition [back to student loan payments] with the least amount of harm…lies in one of the other announcements the administration made on Wednesday[:] …The next step is to auto-enroll everyone in IDR. If this were the only path for borrowers to pay back federal loans, it would make the cost of those loans somewhat irrelevant. For most people who borrow more than $12,000, they would make this 5 or 10 percent payment relative to their annual income for 20 years and be done. ”
Reproductive Rights
Access to Justice – Civil & Economic
Access to Justice – Criminal
In Wisconsin, “[a] group of inmates, some whom have been waiting weeks or months to be assigned attorneys, filed a lawsuit against Gov. Tony Evers and members of the state public defender board. Legal action groups, including the National and Wisconsin Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, are representing a handful of the plaintiffs. ”
In Maine, “[t]he Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services voted to recommend a $62.1 million budget next year. The proposal would open four public defender offices in the state and raise the hourly fee from $80 to $150 for court-appointed lawyers…The American Civil Liberties Union of Maine is suing the state, contending there’s a failure to train, supervise and adequately fund a system to ensure the constitutional right to effective counsel. ”
In Quebec, “[t]he Barreau du Québec has announced that a first agreement was reached with the Minister of Justice, Simon Jolin-Barrette, to increase the fees of lawyers in private practice who accept legal aid mandates. ”
In Rochester NY, “[s]taff attorneys in the Monroe County Public Defender’s office have announced plans to form a union. The union drive comes amid ongoing questions over who will lead the office. ”
In Kentucky, “public defenders [are] looking ahead after years of low pay [and] high caseloads [after t]he budget passed in the 2022 session of the Kentucky General Assembly used a historic surplus to make investments in state government, including more than $7 million to boost the Department of Public Advocacy’s budget. [Kentucky Public Advocate Damon] Preston said the $7 million is a helpful starting point to stop the hemorrhaging of attorneys, but he hopes more state dollars will come in the future to expand DPA services and hire additional lawyers. But, for now, the pay boost is life changing to public defenders[.] ”
In Raleigh County WV, “[t]he Public Defender’s Office is starting to transition from traditional defense strategies to more concentration on holistic defense. With the new program, the office will no longer focus solely on legal issues. They will now focus on housing, jobs, parenting issues, and more. This shift is aimed at helping them get out into the community to offer services for the personal issues that effected their clients’ court issues. ”
In New Hampshire, “[a]mid a statewide shortage of criminal defense lawyers to represent those who can’t afford an attorney, changes to the New Hampshire court system could provide some short-term relief. Among those changes, a recent order by the New Hampshire Supreme Court opens a new avenue for private attorneys to take on these cases, lessening the caseload falling to already-strained public defenders. ”
In El Paso TX, “[after] a judge dismissed about 370 criminal cases in El Paso because of prosecutorial delays[, t]he El Paso Public Defender’s Office, which sought the dismissals, says this is just the beginning: It has more than 1,000 additional cases eligible to be dismissed and plans to file new motions soon. ”
Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform
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August 19, 2022 at 3:24 pm
· Filed under Public Interest Law News Bulletin
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Photo: Harris and Ewing Collection, Library of Congress
Hello, interested public!
Hope you’re all hanging in there. High drama in the news this week for public defenders in both the United States (where the chief public defender of Minnesota is facing a vote of no confidence from union public defenders and the Chief Justice of Oregon fired the entire Public Defense Services Commission) and Canada (where criminal defense attorneys in Alberta further escalated their ongoing job action). Major reports concerning non-profit funding and government remote workplace efficiency came out, legal aid services in Indiana reported a staffing crisis, and the Florida prosecutor recently replaced by Gov. DeSantis for his stated position on abortion-related prosecutions is suing in response to his removal.
Take care of one another,
Sam
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Access to Justice – Civil & Economic
In Indiana, “legal aid agencies across the state are struggling to find and hire attorneys to fill full-time staff positions. Providers speculate that lower bar passage rates and high demand for lawyers across the legal profession have created a supply issue…Ironically for civil legal aid in Indiana, the shortage of lawyers is coinciding with an influx of money from a $13.1 million grant from the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority. Legal aid groups are using the funds, in part, to hire new attorneys who will help clients with housing needs. ”
In Chicago IL, the “North Suburban Legal Aid Clinic has been awarded a $125,000 state grant from the Illinois Equal Justice Foundation to provide free legal assistance to local residents facing eviction. ”
In Oregon, “state lawmakers allocated $6 million to community groups this year to help with what they’ve called a humanitarian crisis for workers in the state’s cannabis industry[:] recover[ing] stolen wages for cannabis farm workers[.] ”
In Wisconsin, “Legal Action of Wisconsin received a $360,000 Pro Bono Innovation Fund grant to expand its Lawyer-For-A-Day program. The program, which already exists to defend low-income residents in eviction court, will now also be offered to low-income clients facing debt collectors and debt buyers in small claims court. ”
In Alaska, “a new department in the Alaska Court System…is providing resources to the public in an effort to help the public better navigate legal matters. ”
Access to Justice – Criminal
In Alberta, “defence lawyers will not take on legal aid files pertaining to very serious criminal offences starting Sept. 1. The Criminal Defence Lawyers Association (Calgary), the Criminal Trial Lawyers Association (Edmonton), the Southern Alberta Defence Lawyers Association and the Red Deer Criminal Lawyers Association issued a release Thursday saying members will ‘begin refusing new certificates for all criminal appeals,’ and ‘refuse new legal aid files involving the most serious criminal offences – those classified as level 2.5 or level 3 offences by Legal Aid Alberta.’ Offences deemed to be level 2.5 and level 3 by Legal Aid Alberta include ‘most sexual offences, firearms- related offences, all homicides and dangerous offender proceedings.’ The groups stopped taking cases in response to what they believe is underfunding by the province. ”
In Minnesota, “State Public Defender Bill Ward faces a vote of no confidence from union public defenders, who say he has failed to advocate for the office and allowed morale to reach its lowest point in decades. ”
In Oregon, “Oregon’s chief justice fired all the members of the Public Defense Services Commission[], frustrated that hundreds of defendants charged with crimes and who cannot afford an attorney have been unable to obtain public defenders to represent them. The unprecedented action comes as Oregon’s unique public defender system has come under such strain that it is at the breaking point. Criminal defendants in Oregon who have gone without legal representation due to a shortage of public defenders filed a lawsuit in May that alleges the state is violating their constitutional right to legal counsel and a speedy trial. ”
In Indiana, the State “Supreme Court has approved a proposed schedule of minimum fees for the state’s public defenders appointed in trial and appellate cases. ”
In New York State, “Chenango County and all of upstate may have to follow New York City’s lead when it comes to a significant rate increase for public defenders. The county’s budget office has warned local officials of a possible 110 percent rate hike that would require the county to pay indigent defense fees of $158 per hour, up from the $75 per hour currently paid. If enacted, it would be the first pay raise that public defenders have seen in two decades. ”
Criminal Justice Reform and Counter-Reform
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