Michael Wines of the New York Times reported this morning that Virginia’s governor, Terry McAuliffe, restored the rights of nearly 13,000 ex-felons, “accomplishing on a case-by-case basis what the state’s Supreme Court last month had barred him from doing with a single executive order.”  Nearly 1 in 5 African Americans in Virginia are unable to […]

Back on June  20, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Utah v. Strieff.  The case centered around and arrest for drug possession in Utah.  Narcotics detective Douglas Fackrell conducted surveillance on a South Salt Lake City residence based on an anonymous tip about drug activity. The number of people he observed making brief visits to the house […]

Here is a link to a powerful editorial published in the Boston Globe today, arguing for a ban on assault weapons. http://apps.bostonglobe.com/graphics/2016/06/make-it-stop/

A step backward for justice reform – SB 83 will cut the number of peremptory challenges from 10 to 6 in misdemeanor cases. For the past 8 years, the California Attorneys for Criminal Justice (CACJ) has successfully protected peremptory challenges from proposals by the California Judges Association and the Judicial Council of California who have […]

In 2013, The New Yorker chronicled the harrowing journey of Mark Lytlle, an American citizen, who was deported to Mexico in 2013 .  I’ve had the pleasure of getting at least 3 American Citizens out of immigration deportation proceedings, but the fates of those who cannot afford a lawyer will probably never be known. Here […]