/access-to-justice?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=section Latest articles for: Access to Justice Copyright 2025 sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½. en-US Fri, 03 Oct 2025 21:16:05 +0000 /access-to-justice/articles/2395851?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=section /access-to-justice/articles/2395851 The U.S. Supreme Court is poised to confront a slate of divisive issues in its upcoming term that begins Monday, with voting rights, transgender equality, religious freedom, immigration detention, and criminal procedure all on the docket. Fri, 03 Oct 2025 20:03:36 +0000 /access-to-justice/articles/2395575?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=section /access-to-justice/articles/2395575 Activists are increasingly working to abolish the myriad fees that states and municipalities charge criminal defendants to fund their courts and jails but that critics say leave indigent people with lifelong debt they can never pay. Fri, 03 Oct 2025 18:03:21 +0000 /access-to-justice/articles/2395860?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=section /access-to-justice/articles/2395860 It wasn't until after he endured six capital murder trials tainted by racial prejudice that Curtis Flowers, a Black Mississippian, was finally exonerated, had the charges against him dismissed and his name cleared. Fri, 03 Oct 2025 16:45:44 +0000 /access-to-justice/articles/2395950?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=section /access-to-justice/articles/2395950 The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a challenge to a Hawaii law that bars pistol permit holders from bringing handguns onto private property open to the public without the owner's express permission, similar to policies in other states that critics have characterized as "vampire laws." Fri, 03 Oct 2025 15:35:01 +0000 /access-to-justice/articles/2393777?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=section /access-to-justice/articles/2393777 Navigating the justice system can be a retraumatizing experience for survivors of sexual abuse, so it’s imperative that mediators who work on these types of cases employ trauma-informed methods to foster trust and help parties reach meaningful resolutions, says Ellie Vilendrer at Signature Resolution. Fri, 03 Oct 2025 14:11:03 +0000 /access-to-justice/articles/2392927?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=section /access-to-justice/articles/2392927 A recent executive order encouraging states to involuntarily commit unhoused people experiencing mental health or substance use issues — combined with a number of slashed social programs — will likely ensnare more people in the criminal legal system, where they’re unlikely to receive adequate treatment, says Regan Huston at the Prison Policy Initiative. Thu, 02 Oct 2025 15:52:29 +0000 /access-to-justice/articles/2395359?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=section /access-to-justice/articles/2395359 The chief administrative judge of the New York Courts encouraged its commercial division in an administrative order to take advantage of web-based digital platforms known as virtual evidence courtrooms to help manage and present evidence during trials. Wed, 01 Oct 2025 23:43:48 +0000 /access-to-justice/articles/2394981?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=section /access-to-justice/articles/2394981 Several state attorneys general sued the U.S. Department of Justice in Rhode Island federal court Wednesday over new restrictions prohibiting them from using federal funding that supports crime victims to provide services to "removable aliens," in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act and the U.S. Constitution's spending clause. Wed, 01 Oct 2025 21:02:32 +0000 /access-to-justice/articles/2394782?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=section /access-to-justice/articles/2394782 The North Carolina Attorney General's Office has requested that the state Supreme Court review an August decision to release two men after they spent nearly 20 years in state prison for a murder they claim they did not commit. Wed, 01 Oct 2025 19:35:37 +0000 /access-to-justice/articles/2394636?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=section /access-to-justice/articles/2394636 Participants of several Texas-based recovery programs for addiction and other problems routinely work 40 or more hours per week at commercial facilities including a farm and sawmill, but receive only low-value "points" for their labor instead of lawful wages, according to a proposed collective and class action filed in federal court. Wed, 01 Oct 2025 17:52:49 +0000 /access-to-justice/articles/2394387?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=section /access-to-justice/articles/2394387 A Sixth Circuit panel said a trial court was wrong to use qualified immunity to toss a Michigan prisoner's suit alleging his constitutional rights were violated when corrections officers slammed him to the ground and fractured his foot in two places. Mon, 29 Sep 2025 19:08:48 +0000 /access-to-justice/articles/2393086?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=section /access-to-justice/articles/2393086 The federal government has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to find that Congress never intended certain sentencing reduction provisions within the 2018 First Step Act to be applied retroactively, and to resolve a 6-4 circuit split. Fri, 26 Sep 2025 20:23:16 +0000 /access-to-justice/articles/2392975?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=section /access-to-justice/articles/2392975 Kathryn Brady with the Muslim Legal Fund of America called it a "miracle." With no warning, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement released her client — Egyptian imam and chaplain Ayman Soliman — on Sept. 19 and reinstated his asylum protections after keeping him locked up for 73 days and threatening to deport him to a country where he said he would face certain death. Fri, 26 Sep 2025 18:55:32 +0000 /access-to-justice/articles/2392816?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=section /access-to-justice/articles/2392816 Three anonymous men on the New York Police Department's list of gang members have urged a federal judge to reject the city's bid to dismiss their putative class action, saying their claims are based on ongoing racial discrimination and civil rights violations. Wed, 24 Sep 2025 15:38:14 +0000 /access-to-justice/articles/2391524?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=section /access-to-justice/articles/2391524 A group of detainees are accusing the New York City Department of Correction of systematically violating the state's landmark law restricting solitary confinement, saying in a state court in a proposed class complaint they have been locked in their cells for up to 24 hours a day at Rikers Island despite the ban, a lawyer told Law360 on Wednesday. Wed, 24 Sep 2025 14:32:57 +0000 /access-to-justice/articles/2391807?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=section /access-to-justice/articles/2391807 Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., has urged the Judicial Conference to take further action to ensure that all defendants, particularly low-income ones, have access to counsel for their initial appearance in federal court. Tue, 23 Sep 2025 18:13:42 +0000 /access-to-justice/articles/2391351?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=section /access-to-justice/articles/2391351 A federal judge in North Carolina has dismissed prison healthcare provider Wellpath from a lawsuit brought by the family of a man who died of a stroke inside a Charlotte jail, finding that the company's bankruptcy shields it from liability but allowing claims against a county sheriff and others to continue. Mon, 22 Sep 2025 20:47:03 +0000 /access-to-justice/articles/2390931?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=section /access-to-justice/articles/2390931 A transgender sprinter is suing the National Collegiate Athletic Association and SUNY Geneseo college, claiming they discriminated against her by barring her from competing in a track event, despite knowing that the NCAA's 2025 transgender exclusion policy violates New York state law. Fri, 19 Sep 2025 19:38:34 +0000 /access-to-justice/articles/2388098?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=section /access-to-justice/articles/2388098 As the Trump administration follows through on campaign promises to arrest and deport millions, immigrants are increasingly finding that hiring an immigration lawyer is impossible. And without lawyers, they usually lose, no matter how strong their case is. Fri, 19 Sep 2025 19:00:30 +0000 /access-to-justice/articles/2389761?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=section /access-to-justice/articles/2389761 Law enforcement says the relatively new science of using DNA to generate an estimation of a person's physical appearance is a powerful tool that can help lead police to suspects, but critics of the practice warn that the still-untested technology will lead to racial profiling.