Most Tenants Facing Eviction Don’t Have a Right to an Attorney. Lawmakers Want to Change That Numerous city councils and state legislatures are debating giving renters a right to counsel, which can make the difference between stability and catastrophe. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
New Orleans DA Candidate Allowed Race-Based Jury Selection In 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Keva Landrum violated the Constitution when, as a judge, she permitted nearly a dozen Black people to be struck from serving on a jury in a high-profile murder case. Jerry Iannelli
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
Democrats Could Flip the Ohio and Michigan Supreme Courts Shifting control of the states’ highest courts next month will prove critical on a number of major issues, including redistricting in 2021. Joshua Vaughn
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
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
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
Tennessee Set to Execute Intellectually Disabled Black Man In Killing of White Woman Even Though Innocence Questions Persist Attorneys say the prosecution’s theory of the murder case was ‘concocted out of whole cloth’ and based on ‘outdated racial stereotyping.’ Steven Hale
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
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
Five Jurists Said Donnie Lance Deserved a New Sentence. Georgia Executed Him Anyway. Three Supreme Court justices and others said competent counsel could have saved his life. Kyle C. Barry
The Appeal Podcast: A Lack of Basic Rights for Incarcerated Workers With journalist Sessi Kuwabara Blanchard Adam H. Johnson
A Deadly Father-And-Son Bank Robbery Raises Questions About Culpability and The Adolescent Mind Christopher Lay grew up under the influence of a father who was mentally ill. Drawn into a crime at age 19, he’s now seeking a second chance that could help other young adults demand the same. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Missouri Executes Russell Bucklew Despite Threat of Botched Execution His legal team had pushed for clemency, arguing that Bucklew’s previous attorneys mishandled his capital murder case. Lauren Gill
Missouri Is Set To Execute Russell Bucklew. His Lawyers Say His Case Was Mishandled. In April, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that his execution, which experts have said will be bloody and gruesome, does not amount to cruel and unusual punishment. But problems with his case started long before that, his attorneys say. Lauren Gill
He Entered Prison As a ‘Whiskerless Kid.’ Will Oregon Ever Let Him Out? Despite supporting Oregon’s new juvenile justice law, Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum is still fighting to keep people in prison who received life sentences as minors. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Sentenced to Life Without Parole at 17 and Denied Freedom at 52 Richard Kinder thought he would die in an Alabama prison until the Supreme Court ruled mandatory juvenile life without parole unconstitutional. But last year, despite a judge concluding there was “uncontradicted evidence” that Kinder had worked to rehabilitate himself, the state parole board refused him release. Lauren Gill
Prison Systems Can Respect the Religious Rights of Muslims. State Government Should Ensure They Do. Vaidya Gullapalli
The Power of Peremptory Strikes As public servants, prosecutors should be willing to put their cases before anyone in the communities they serve. Vida B. Johnson
Pennsylvania Case Challenges ‘Death by Incarceration’ for 18-year-olds Recent Supreme Court rulings have led to a review of life-without-parole sentences for crimes committed at age 17 and younger, but attorneys for Avis Lee say there’s no reason to stop there. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
