Amicus Blog
What Can Jonathan Turley’s Gross Misfire Teach Us About the Trump Administration?
Turley’s article appears to be an attempt to provide cover for an administration that was delayed and hapless in response to a crisis. Turley’s misfire should call our attention to a new conservative tactic – using a crisis that they have thus-far mismanaged to undermine the American people’s confidence in the federal government.
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Unhoused People’s Right To Public Bathrooms
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought renewed attention to unhoused people’s lack of access to sanitary living conditions. The extreme dearth of shelter beds and public restrooms across the country means that unhoused people, despite being particularly vulnerable to the effects of the outbreak, have little means by which to protect themselves.
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This Week in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties: March 30, 2020
This week, the country mourned the passing of civil rights leader Reverend Joseph Lowery. Meanwhile, the coronavirus pandemic has brought up a number of civil rights issues—from a state governor ordering police to stop cars with New York license plates, to...
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Springer Spaniels, Civil Liberties, and the Fourth Amendment
In 2018, the TSA implemented a “cute dog” policy: it would employ only cute looking dogs at airports. This seemingly innocuous policy offers a vivid example of how government can shape and collapse our right to privacy. Now is a crucial moment for the development of privacy law. It is worth understanding and thinking carefully about the tradeoffs between convenience and privacy that we are willing to accept.
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COVID-19 SCHOOL CLOSURES PRESENT UNCERTAINTIES IN SPECIAL EDUCATION ENTITLEMENTS
At this point, many of us are in our second week of social distancing due to the spread of COVID-19. Increasingly, K-12 public schools and school districts across the country have closed for a period of time to prevent students from coming to school and gathering in...
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Ending Bail in the Wake of Coronavirus
COVID-19 – also known as Coronavirus – is an increasing risk to public health in the United States. While universities, businesses, and hospitals are preparing, it is worth considering what jails and prisons will look like as the virus continues to spread. Many...
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Use the Rules of Criminal Procedure to Limit Prosecutors’ Power
Criminal procedure plays a large role in creating an imbalance of power between prosecutors and defendants. Changing the rules can help make the plea bargaining (and trial) process less unfair by forcing prosecutors to choose what they want to charge more carefully.
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What If Crime Goes Up?
The ongoing criminal legal reform movement comes after decades of falling crime rates. That raises concerns about the movement’s viability: What would happen if crime went up? Reformers must prepare a response that protects their policy achievements and further advances the movement. A successful strategy will focus on the immense benefits of reform.
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Eliminating Cash Bail in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Detention before trial is not a benign act. It severely harms indigent people by disrupting employment, risking default on loans, and separating families.
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AMIDST RISE OF RED FLAG GUN LAWS, DUE PROCESS CONCERNS ARE LIKELY OVERBLOWN
Gun control has been a prominent focus of the Democratic primary debates, reflecting a larger national trend. 2017 saw an increase in gun deaths compared to the prior two decades and was a particularly devastating year in terms of mass shootings, and student-led...
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THIS WEEK IN CIVIL RIGHTS AND CIVIL LIBERTIES: MARCH 2, 2020
Welcome to this week in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. This week, the Supreme Court will hear a case that could effectively limit abortion access across the country, and Harris County will begin to use pro bono law firm attorneys to prosecute misdemeanors....
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What’s Happening in the NRA’s Backyard?
When gun control measures stalled at the national level, advocates took a page out of the conservative playbook: they focused on the states. This is not to say that there haven’t been hard-won victories at the national level. After Democrats regained control of the...
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CR-CL is live blogging the Semi-Final Round of the Ames Moot Court Competition tonight! Check out our updates starting at 6:15 pm EST at https://harvardcrcl.org/ames-semi-final-round-march-9-2020/
This weekend, we celebrated 55 years of pushing the bounds of legal scholarship. Special thanks to our keynote speaker @vanitaguptaCR, our more than thirty panelists, and our entire CR-CL community. To the next 55!
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We need to get the #FAIRAct through the Senate—but until that happens, it's up to states to respond to the forced arbitration crisis. Fantastic new @HarvardCRCL post from @BennJennett & @daveyseligman on how states can take action.
#EndForcedArbitration
https://harvardcrcl.org/sunshine-is-not-enough-state-responses-to-the-enforcement-crisis-caused-by-forced-arbitration/
Still hoping that courts will revive a general liberty or expression right to student dress freedom as @djuna22 and I advocated in @HarvardCRCL. In the meantime, Equal Protection, Free Exercise, and compelled speech doing a decent job policing the boundaries of gov’t overreach. https://twitter.com/galenleigh/status/1199442702582059008
Another thing to be thankful for this week: declaratory judgment finding that the provision of Charter Day School dress code requiring girls to wear skirts violates Equal Protection, & order permanently enjoining the school from establishing or enforcing the provision. Justice!
As someone who used to assist accused students in Title IX proceedings, I think I’m in a good position to say that DeVos’s “due process” regs are unnecessary and dangerous. When they were proposed, I wrote about it for @HarvardCRCL’s blog: http://harvardcrcl.org/why-betsy-devo… https://twitter.com/azbrodsky/status/1192104171664822274
We are expecting @BetsyDeVosED’s final regulations on Title IX and sexual harassment within the month. Based on the previously published proposed rules, we have good reason to think they will be bad.
CR-CL's annual HLS Ames Final Live-blog is LIVE with blow-by-blow commentary by Nicole Franklin as the student competitors face-off before a panel of judges, including Judge Merrick Garland! https://harvardcrcl.org/2019-ames-moot-court-finals-live-blog/.