At Least 5 Capitol Rally Participants Were In A Violent ‘Patriot March’ In San Diego
Right-wingers and ultranationalists convened in the city days after the Washington insurrection, but the police crackdown that day fell on counterprotesters.
James Stout Feb 03, 2021
Trump Turned the Justice System Into a Black Box. Biden Could Fix It
The Bureau of Justice Statistics has suffered from years of poor funding and political interference by the Trump administration. Fixing it could be one of the most important tasks on Biden’s criminal justice reform agenda.
Ethan Corey Feb 02, 2021
The Cops at the Capitol
Law enforcement officers from around the country attended and supported last week’s rally in support of President Trump that sparked a riot.
Jonathan Ben-Menachem Jan 13, 2021
Partners in Crime: The Siege on the Capitol, Police, and White Supremacy
The historical connections were on full display during Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol.
Jerry Iannelli Jan 08, 2021
Terry McAuliffe’s Record on the Death Penalty Is Out of Step With National Trends
McAuliffe is running to become Virginia governor a second time. If he wins, he would be the only active Democratic governor to have carried out executions in office.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Dec 11, 2020
Brandon Bernard’s Death Sentence Should Be Commuted Immediately By President Trump
A reasonable society does not meet trauma with more trauma in the name of justice.
Ayanna Pressley Dec 10, 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
Women Have The Power To End This Presidency
Trump’s presidency began with women marching in record numbers. Now it’s going to end with women voting in record numbers.
Rachel O’Leary Carmona Nov 02, 2020
A Media Guide For Free And Fair Election Reporting
The media, more than ever, has an important role in preserving our democracy during this election season. The more that members of the media expose false, misleading, or manipulative claims for what they are, the less likely it is for Americans to fall for President Donald Trump’s insidious tactics on and after Election Day.
Anna Kurien, Emily Galvin-Almanza, Alana Sivin Oct 29, 2020
A Trumpist Texas Sheriff is Running for Congress. If He Wins, His Brother Might Take Over the Sheriff’s Office.
Fort Bend Sheriff Troy Nehls wants voters to send him to Congress despite his department’s history of jail deaths and allegations of racial-profiling.
Jerry Iannelli Oct 23, 2020
Amy Coney Barrett’s Record on Criminal Justice Is ‘Deeply Troubling,’ Reform Advocates Say
In the midst of a national debate about changing the criminal legal system, Barrett is set to take a lifetime seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. Advocates see her addition as a potential setback to creating a more fair system.
Joshua Vaughn Oct 22, 2020
Federal Judge Halts Trump’s Law Enforcement Commission
The ruling said the commission wasn’t diverse enough and gave little voice to communities affected by policing.
Joshua Vaughn Oct 01, 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
Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them.
Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face.
Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann Sep 29, 2020
Yes, Pack The Court – Pack It With Public Interest Lawyers
No intellect or doctrine can overcome a judiciary inclined to favor government and the powerful against the accused and the vulnerable. And that is the federal judiciary we now have.
Matthew Segal Sep 28, 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
The Federal Government Is Failing Communities Suffering From Food Insecurity
Food insecurity is not an acute emergency, but rather a chronic condition for low-income Americans that existed long before the current public health emergency.
Ona Balkus Sep 22, 2020
The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic
The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it’s pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people.
Gillian Branstetter, Sarah Saadian Sep 17, 2020
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
Prosecutors Are Using Gang Laws To Criminalize Protest
Prosecutors in states ranging from New York to Utah are using decades-old gang laws to target participants in the largest uprising against police brutality in U.S. history.
Ali Winston Sep 01, 2020
Operation Legend Is Another Attempt to ‘Federalize’ Policing. Organizers Are Pushing Back.
President Trump and the DOJ are funding federal policing programs in cities like Detroit, Chicago, and Baltimore, but advocates say they’re unnecessary, harmful, and ineffective.
Marcia Brown Aug 13, 2020
The Roger Stone Commutation Was Bad. Congress Shouldn’t Make Things Worse.
Democrats in Congress must still their impulse to legislate restrictions on clemency. Not only would such a law be unconstitutional, but it may deter future presidents from using clemency the way that the framers intended.
Mark Osler Jul 15, 2020
Trump’s Planned Trip To Mount Rushmore Puts Lives And A Fragile Ecosystem At Risk
The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.
Ruth Hopkins Jun 29, 2020
How the Federal Government Lost Track of Deaths in Custody
The Department of Justice is leaving researchers, policymakers, and advocates in the dark about deaths in police custody, prisons, and jails.
Ethan Corey Jun 24, 2020
As The Trump Administration Restricts Legal Immigration, It’s Expanding A Class Of Vulnerable Guest Workers
Farmworker and labor advocates say these workers are among the most exploited in the country.
Madeline Leung Coleman Jun 10, 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
Coronavirus In Jails and Prisons
Despite early warnings, jails and prisons have seen a rapid spread of the virus—a humanitarian disaster that puts all of our communities, and lives, at risk. Every day, The Appeal examines the scale of the crisis, numbers of infected and dead, around the nation.
Kelly Davis Jun 01, 2020
Don’t Look to the DOJ to Keep Federal Prisons and Their Surrounding Communities Safe During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Experts are urging large-scale releases. But the Department of Justice often operates contrary to expertise.
Shon Hopwood Apr 08, 2020
Lessons from Hurricane Katrina For The COVID-19 Recovery To Come
Powerful interests exploited Katrina to enrich themselves and transform the city. As a reporter who covered the fallout explains, our government’s lax oversight means the same could happen now, leaving those who most need help behind.
Gary Rivlin Apr 07, 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
Our Leaders Have the Power to Release People in Prison. Now They Must Use It.
State governors and the president have the authority to grant commutations and reprieves to people in prison across the country as COVID-19 spreads.
Rachel Barkow Mar 27, 2020
The Coronavirus Pandemic Has Brought Out Society’s Alarming Disregard for People With Disabilities
Politicians and the general public are ignoring the health and safety needs of those with disabilities and chronic conditions.
Robyn Powell Mar 25, 2020
One Thing Barr Gets right: The Sentencing Guidelines Are Indeed Too Harsh
Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal. When the Justice Department rescinded its recommendation this week that Trump ally Roger Stone be sentenced to seven to nine years, it seemed to lose whatever remaining […]
Sarah Lustbader Feb 18, 2020
What If Ordinary Juries Were More Like Impeachment Juries?
Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal. “Today, the sham impeachment attempt concocted by Democrats ended in the full vindication and exoneration of President Donald J. Trump,” said Stephanie Grisham, the White House press secretary. […]
Sarah Lustbader Feb 06, 2020
About That Trump Super Bowl Ad
Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal. It was no secret that President Trump was planning to run an ad during the Super Bowl this year; the question was only what the particular message […]
Sarah Lustbader Feb 04, 2020
In A Florida County, Sex Workers Are Ensnared In ‘Trafficking’ Raids
Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister’s stings, conducted under the guise of targeting human trafficking, netted the largest number of arrests there since 2008. Sex workers say the operations put them at risk.
Molly Minta Jan 28, 2020
It’s OK To Root Against Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher
Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal. Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher, a 40-year-old Navy SEAL who has completed eight combat deployments, was known for seeking out the toughest assignments, where gunfire and gore were almost […]
Sarah Lustbader Dec 04, 2019
Trump’s Disastrous Attempt At Restorative Justice
Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal. Last week, the family of a British teenager, Harry Dunn, who was killed in an August car crash in England, traveled to the White House to push […]
Sarah Lustbader Oct 22, 2019
Prison Whistleblowers, Too, Are Vulnerable
Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal. This week, White House counsel informed House Democrats that the White House will not cooperate with their impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. The letter states, in part, “You […]
Sarah Lustbader Oct 11, 2019
Republicans Suddenly Care About Hearsay And Procedural Justice
Republicans seem to discover the urgent need for due process and procedural safeguards each time an ally of theirs becomes vulnerable. This time, it’s about hearsay. I am confident that I am not the only attorney fielding questions about whether the whistleblower complaint—which began an impeachment inquiry into President Trump’s dealings with the Ukranian president—is hearsay. This is because after the complaint was released, Trump allies such […]
Sarah Lustbader Oct 04, 2019