Jay Willis Jay Willis Senior Contributor & Story Development Director Jay covers courts, judges, elections, and politics. Previously, he worked as a staff writer at GQ magazine, and as a lawyer at firms in Washington, D.C. and Seattle. His writing has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Slate, Deadspin, Gawker, and more. Jay studied social welfare and public policy at Berkeley and received a J.D. from Harvard Law School. @jaywillis
Joe Manchin’s Voters Aren’t Letting Him Stop $2,000 Checks The intense backlash to his recent comments criticizing $2,000 stimulus checks signal the growing momentum for guaranteed income programs—and the emerging power of voters who care more about substantive results than partisan skirmishes. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2021
Gavin Newsom’s High-Stakes Choice For California Attorney General By appointing a reformer to replace the outgoing Xavier Becerra, Newsom has the chance to begin dismantling a sprawling, bloated system of prisons and jails that incarcerated nearly a quarter-million people as of 2018. Jay Willis Jan 14, 2021
The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis Dec 18, 2020
Americans Are Getting Tired of Willie Horton-Style Fearmongering In North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein’s Republican opponent painted him as soft on crime. Voters re-elected him anyway. Jay Willis Nov 18, 2020
Joe Biden Has to Be More Than the Man Who Defeated Trump A Democratic president who politely listens to progressive rhetoric while failing to act on it is one who just watches the planet burn a little more slowly. Jay Willis Nov 12, 2020
Police Unions Are Losing The War on Criminal Justice Reform Law enforcement organizations have long treated mass incarceration as a job creation program. In 2020, the tide began turning against them. Jay Willis Nov 10, 2020
‘The Squad’ Is Growing—And So Is Its Power Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices. Jay Willis Nov 04, 2020
The Senate Filibuster Is Hollowing Out American Democracy If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible. Jay Willis Nov 02, 2020
Election Night Coverage Is Broken. In 2020, It Could Be Dangerous In a presidential election likely to take weeks or months to decide, the race to name a winner on Nov. 3 could do tremendous damage to the integrity of the vote-counting process. Jay Willis Oct 14, 2020
Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform Mayors of liberal cities love to criticize the president’s incendiary law-and-order rhetoric, but do precious little to check police violence and bloated budgets in their own backyards. Jay Willis Sep 30, 2020
Expanding the Supreme Court Is Not ‘Radical’ Rebalancing the nation’s highest court is a reasonable, proportionate response to a system that failed a long time ago. Jay Willis Sep 25, 2020
Abolish The Filibuster And Pack The Court The stakes could not be higher following the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Jay Willis Sep 18, 2020
A New Association of Progressive D.A.s Could Overhaul California’s Reform Movement Prosecutors across the country are rethinking their membership in professional organizations that oppose a meaningful reform agenda. Jay Willis Sep 15, 2020
A New Law To Help Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Is Far More Limited Than It Seems California just made it a tiny bit easier for formerly incarcerated people to become civilian firefighters. But the law still leaves many obstacles in their path. Jay Willis
Trump’s Voter Fraud Lie Is the Oldest Trick in the Book The president’s fearmongering over mail-in ballots is part of a long history of politicians denying members of marginalized communities, and particularly Black people, the right to vote. Jay Willis Sep 02, 2020
Conservatives Are Winning The Supreme Court’s Most Important Fight: Suppressing The Vote Enabling widespread voter suppression is shaping up to be the Roberts Court’s most consequential accomplishment, because every other aspect of the Republican agenda depends on it. Jay Willis Jul 24, 2020
A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming. America’s Failing Legal System Will Make It Worse COVID-19 is disproportionately putting Black and Latinx people at higher risk of eviction, fueling a housing crisis that is already in progress. Jay Willis Jul 14, 2020
Will Maryland Lawmakers Come Back to Work? In a moment of crisis, the state Senate and House are slated to be in recess until January. Jay Willis Jul 10, 2020
The Supreme Court’s War on Miranda Rights in America For decades, the Court has been carving out generous exceptions and crafting new rules that limit the Miranda warning’s real-world impact. Jay Willis Jun 23, 2020
Portland City Council Votes to Cut $15 Million From Police Budget The cuts will defund a controversial gang policing unit and end the city’s policing partnership with TriMet, the regional transit agency. Jay Willis Jun 17, 2020
Louisville Metro Council Bans No-Knock Raids Following The Police Killing of Breonna Taylor Breonna Taylor was killed nearly three months ago during a no-knock raid. All 26 members of the Metro Council have signed on as co-sponsors to “Breonna’s Law,” which would ban them. Jay Willis Jun 11, 2020
Minneapolis City Council Members Announce Intent To Disband The Police Department, Invest In Proven Community-Led Public Safety The move follows the police killing of George Floyd and more than a week of uprisings, where hundreds of thousands of people around the world have protested against police violence, and abusive police responses to the protests. Jay Willis Jun 07, 2020
For Trump, There Is No Policing Without Violence A president who openly endorses police brutality struggles with a nation rejecting it. Jay Willis Jun 03, 2020
Brian Kemp’s Sham Democracy in Georgia The poster boy of Republican voter suppression is using loopholes in state law to cancel key Supreme Court and district attorney races in 2020. Jay Willis May 13, 2020
The Supreme Court Buys Into Donald Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Fearmongering Using language evoking pernicious stereotypes about immigration and crime, the Court’s conservative majority clears the way for the Trump administration to deport legal permanent residents for crimes committed long ago. Jay Willis Apr 29, 2020
Judges Are Exploiting the COVID-19 Pandemic to Advance the Conservative Agenda A trio of cases in Wisconsin and Texas illustrates how Republican judges are feigning helplessness in the face of a public health crisis while furthering their own ends. Jay Willis Apr 22, 2020
The Supreme Court Just Struck Down the Last State Law Allowing Split Jury Verdicts Ramos v. Louisiana is a long-overdue affirmation of the constitutional rights of criminal defendants—and sets the stage for dramatic Supreme Court fights in the years ahead. Jay Willis Apr 20, 2020
The COVID-19 Prison Disaster Is No Longer Hypothetical People are dying in jails and prisons because elected officials hesitated at the worst possible moment. Jay Willis Apr 09, 2020
The Coronavirus Food Bank Crisis Is Already Underway In Austin and across the country, service providers are dealing with spikes in demand, new logistical challenges, and mounting uncertainty about the months ahead. Jay Willis Apr 06, 2020
The Voices Warning Trump About COVID-19 In Prisons Are Growing Louder. Will He Listen? There are no good reasons for the president to keep vulnerable people behind bars any longer. Jay Willis Mar 31, 2020
Seattle Was Struggling To Care For Its Unhoused Population. Then Coronavirus Arrived. Advocates for the area’s homeless residents say the pandemic will worsen the crisis they have already been living through. Jay Willis Mar 26, 2020
Harris County D.A. Kim Ogg Wins Democratic Primary She withstood challenges from two of her former assistant district attorneys who wanted to reform the office and reduce prosecutions of low-level offenses. Jay Willis Mar 04, 2020
Bernie Sanders Endorses Audia Jones for Harris County D.A. Jones is challenging incumbent Kim Ogg in the 2020 election. Jay Willis Feb 13, 2020
How Witness Identifications Send Innocent People to Prison Mistaken identifications have been involved in nearly 70 percent of post-conviction exonerations based on DNA evidence. Jay Willis Feb 11, 2020
Should a Prosecutor’s Immunity Cover Faking Documents to Lock Up Witnesses? A lawsuit alleges Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office created bogus "subpoenas" to secure reluctant witnesses' cooperation—and even used them to jail crime victims. Jay Willis Feb 05, 2020
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp Wants to Slash Public Defender Funding By $3 Million Advocates warn that the cuts could push an already overburdened system to the breaking point. Jay Willis Jan 22, 2020
A City Council Resolution Could End Marijuana Arrests and Fines in Austin, Texas The move is made possible by a Texas law that legalized the production of hemp last year. Jay Willis Jan 10, 2020
Chesa Boudin Sworn In as San Francisco’s New District Attorney The former deputy public defender promised that his office would immediately end cash bail and stop seeking three-strikes sentencing enhancements. Jay Willis Jan 08, 2020
