Justice for Marsha Blakely and The Ohio Four
The Ohio Four were convicted in the 1991 killing of Marsha Blakely; all four have maintained their innocence to date.
Civil Rights
Florida Woman Files “Tester” Suit(s)
Laufer, a Florida woman who qualifies as a disabled person, holds herself out to be “an advocate of the rights of similarly situated disabled persons.” As such, this Floridian crusader, albeit un-caped, has filed over 600 lawsuits with the goal of enforcing Title III of the ADA.
Rules of evidence v. Constitutional protections: a battle of authorities
The Supreme Court carves out an exception to the validity of a jury verdict for racial bias in jury deliberations.
Blanket drug testing of college students declared unconstitutional
The Eighth Circuit held that a college’s mandatory drug testing policy constitutes an unreasonable search under the Fourth Amendment.
Is air conditioning a constitutional right?
A recent federal lawsuit is once again examining whether prisons without air conditioning violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
Baltimore: another example of systemic racism and police officers abusing their power
The U.S. Department of Justice releases a scathing report on the Baltimore Police Department’s discriminating and aggressive policing tactics.
62 years after Brown v. Board of Education, segregation is still not history.
With the recent desegregation of public schools in Cleveland, Mississippi, the hard truth that segregation still exists must be dealt with nationwide.
The day McCrory went to war
The battle over North Carolina’s controversial HB2 Bill heated up recently when Governor Pat McCroy and the Department of Justice filed almost simultaneous lawsuits against each other in United States District Court.
Income inequality in 2016: Women and minorities struggle to be treated equally
Even with the Equal Pay Act, women and minorities are still being paid substantially less than their male counterparts in the workplace.
Think before you shoot
A recent report reveals that the mentally ill and African American citizens of Los Angeles are involved in police shootings by the LAPD at a disproportionately higher number.
Clean water is a right, not a privilege
The Flint water crisis has devastated the world after investigations have shown a toxic amount of lead and other pathogens in the water supply of Flint, Michigan.
Public defenders – where art thou?
Budget cuts in funding for public defenders in New Orleans have caused many indigent citizens to be denied their Sixth Amendment constitutional right to appointed counsel.
Indiana agrees to end solitary confinement of mentally ill inmates
In late January, Indiana joined other US states in the recent trend of restricting the use of solitary confinement by prohibiting seriously mentally ill inmates from being held in restrictive housing.
Will Tasers be the solution to ending force used by police officers? Chicago Mayor Emanuel seems to think so.
Chicago Mayor, Rahm Emanuel, announced a new policy to be implemented consisting of providing more accessible Tasers to police officers and better training of police officers when dealing with confrontational situations with suspects.
Police officers in public schools: Are they the main contributors in the “school-to-prison pipeline?”
Police officers who work inside the public school systems across the nation lack the training to work with children, and therefore, contribute to the influx of students being pushed into the “school-to-prison pipeline.”