After Years Locked up for Stealing Cold Medicine, Reginald Randolph Is Released Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign Leah Litman
Amy Coney Barrett’s Record on Criminal Justice Is ‘Deeply Troubling,’ Reform Advocates Say Joshua Vaughn
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
Virtual Hearings Have Created A ‘Caste System’ In America’s Courts Precautions meant to minimize the spread of COVID-19—like remote hearings by video conferencing—have drastically changed the way people experience the judicial process, leaving some at a distinct disadvantage. Elizabeth Brico
Racial Disparity Among Prosecutors and Trial Judges Translates to Unequal Justice, Activists Say Studies show that 95 percent of the nation’s prosecutors are white and that the lack of Black and brown representation in courts negatively affect outcomes for people of color. Dawn R. Wolfe
New York City Public Defenders Oppose Resuming In-Person Court Appearances The advocates describe the reopening as unsafe and unnecessary amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Chris Gelardi
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
Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession. Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse
New Orleans Judge Steered People to Wear Ankle Monitors From Company Run by Campaign Donors, Lawsuit Says Judge Paul Bonin improperly required people who appeared in his courtroom to purchase ankle monitors from a private company run by one of his former law partners, a lawsuit says. Ko Bragg
Georgia Budget Cuts Threaten Prisoners’ Ability To Challenge Convictions Citing the pandemic, state legislators asked all agencies to trim their budgets. The cuts could eliminate positions for public defenders who can show a trial or sentence was unjust, overturn convictions, or reduce a person’s time. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
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
Judges Must Also Be Centered In Demands To Defund And Divest From Mass Criminalization Calls to defund the police must also be accompanied with divesting power and discretion from judges. Gina Clayton-Johnson
Despite COVID-19 Cases, Mississippi Is Slow to Review Jail Populations For Release The state’s public defender asked the state Supreme Court in April to speed up reviews of people held pretrial, but advocates say it’s unclear if district courts have complied. Ko Bragg
Sluggish LA County Courts Are Leaving Young People Locked Up During the Pandemic While adults in the county have been granted expedited release in groups, the juvenile court continues to review cases individually. LJ Dawson
The Public Health Risks of Jailing People for Poverty In Hillsborough County, Florida, the jail population is bloated by cash bail, fines, and fees, perpetuating health inequities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Jonathan Ben-Menachem
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
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
Colorado Supreme Court Fails To Protect State Residents As Coronavirus Grows ‘Exponentially’ In Jails People behind bars are too often forgotten and treated as expendable. We cannot afford to forget them. Our shared survival and shared humanity demand action. Aya Gruber, Benjamin Levin
California Makes Major Bail Change To Slow the Spread of Coronavirus In Jails Bail will be set at $0 for most misdemeanors and low-level felony offenses. Kira Lerner
As Coronavirus Spreads, So Does Panic and Confusion at Immigration Courts Across The U.S. Lawyers, judges, and advocates for migrant children wonder what it will take to close all 69 immigration courts. ‘I hope that it won’t take a death, but I worry that it will,’ one lawyer said. Liz Robbins
Closing California Courts Won’t Prevent A COVID-19 Crisis in Jails Los Angeles County judges must move quickly to release a broad group of people in custody. Alicia Virani
In California, Coronavirus Threatens Due Process Delaying trials will mean more people stay in jail while a life-threatening disease spreads throughout the state. Kyle C. Barry
Coronavirus Raises Questions On How To Meet Court-Ordered Obligations Many programs for people on parole, probation, or supervision take place in group settings—the exact opposite of what public health officials are recommending in order to stop the spread of COVID-19. Elizabeth Brico
New York City Courts Still Dangerous For Spread of Coronavirus, Public Defenders Say While those facing charges appear by video at arraignments, all others—attorneys, officers, the judge—are in the courtroom in close quarters, defense attorneys say. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
A Federal District Court in Ohio Delays All Trials Because of Coronavirus Judicial responses to the pandemic have varied and are changing rapidly. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
