On August 11, 2020, Travis County, Texas made history by holding the nation’s first virtual criminal jury trial. While the case itself—a misdemeanor charge for speeding in a construction zone—was largely unremarkable, the way it was conducted was anything but. At 8:30 a.m. local time that Tuesday, Justice of the Peace Nicholas Chu convened the […]
Access to Justice and Legal Innovation
Coronavirus and the Right to a Speedy Trial
What does it mean for an individual to have a meaningful right to a speedy trial when the whole world seems to be on hold? How long can we ask someone to wait for justice in a situation when everyone is asked to be patient? As the United States approaches two years of life in […]
All Rise, All Mute: Online court proceedings, coronavirus, and access to justice
“[O]ur system of courts is archaic and our procedure behind the times.” – Roscoe Pound (Former Dean of Harvard Law School), 1906 The coronavirus pandemic has given new urgency to the failings of the U.S. legal system to provide meaningful access to justice for many Americans. These failings are by no means new, but the […]
Unprecedented Expulsion of Immigrants at the Southern Border: The Title 42 Process
In March, President Trump relied on a little-used public health rule to drastically restrict immigration at the United States’ land borders. President Trump determined that, because COVID-19 was present in Mexico and Canada, there was a serious danger that migrants might further introduce coronavirus into the United States. Although it applies to both borders equally, […]
COVID-19 and Undocumented Workers: A Catastrophic Confluence
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to devastate workers and families across the United States, undocumented immigrants remain particularly vulnerable. Most federal coronavirus relief has excluded undocumented immigrants, who are also generally ineligible for the pre-existing social safety net programs that so many Americans have relied upon. Further, undocumented workers are overrepresented both in industries considered […]
Telework for Caregivers: A Gap in Employment and Disability Law
The pandemic has exposed a gap in our employment and disability laws—a lack of care for caregivers. The workforce is filled with employees who take on roles as caregivers at home, such as parents looking after children with cancer, husbands or wives helping their spouse after a surgery, and adult children watching parents with dementia. […]
Police Should Not Be Enforcing Emergency Public Health Orders
On a weekend when police officers were handing masks to white residents in parks around New York City, NYPD Officer Francisco Garcia forced Donni Wright, a 33-year-old Black man, to the ground and knelt on his neck. Officer Garcia was one of 1,000 NYPD officers dispatched to enforce social distancing and mask-wearing. He had been […]
Coronavirus and the Class Action
As coronavirus has upended life across the globe, the disruption has been followed by a wave of class action cases. The class action— once a uniquely American litigation mechanism— has taken root internationally and numerous international coronavirus related class actions have been filed. However, the United States still stands apart in the scope and number […]
Prioritizing Life: the Grim Irony of Capital Punishment in the Time of Coronavirus
As it has transformed almost every aspect of social and economic life in America, the Coronavirus pandemic has forced local governments and public health officials to think about incarcerated populations in new ways. Concentrated in crowded, often unsanitary conditions where social distancing is impossible, prison populations face heightened risks of contracting COVID-19, and prisons themselves […]