Law and the Courts

In the first major abortion case of the Trump era, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts joined his more liberal colleagues Monday to strike down a Louisiana law that would have restricted women’s access to the procedure. The case, June Medical Services LLC v. Russo, dealt with a Louisiana law, known as Act 620, that required any physicians who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at local hospitals.

Moises Serrano and his family have spent three decades in legal limbo over their immigration status, so he was hesitant to celebrate Thursday when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the Trump administration over its decision to end a program that protects hundreds of thousands of undocumented people from deportation who were brought to the country as children.

Republicans add language in effort to circumvent two court injunctions; final vote today What started as a bipartisan effort to address the challenge of administering an election during the COVID-19 pandemic has devolved into a battle over another Republican attempt to require North Carolinians to show a photo ID to cast a ballot in November.

When Andrew Darrin Ramseur, a Black man, walked into court in Iredell County on May 10, 2010 to face charges related to the murder of two white victims, there was a noticeable difference about his side of the room: the first four rows behind the defense table were cordoned off by yellow crime scene tape.

Powerful Black leaders across North Carolina in charge of administering justice are speaking out to support protesters calling for change in the aftermath of the homicide of George Floyd. Floyd’s story is all too familiar to Black Americans – he was killed on camera as a result of police brutality, and now his name has become another hashtag, another call to white people to recognize their privilege and the systemic racism that enables ongoing violence and injustice.

North Carolina House lawmakers will consider an elections bill today that would provide temporary funding and set up new election protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic, but voting rights advocates say it doesn’t go far enough.

On any given week prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of people went in and out of the Wake County courthouse without worrying about the crowds they’d encounter in the building. In courtrooms, defendants, attorneys, victims and public agency workers alike would squeeze into the pews as a judge conducted hearings on dockets that could drone on for hours. No one wore masks; no one compulsively sanitized their hands.

North Carolina lawmakers say that they cannot be required to turn over communications and documents related to their most recent passage of a voter ID law because of an absolute legislative privilege. Six voters are challenging the law, enshrined in Senate Bill 824, which the legislature passed in December 2018 after voters approved a constitutional amendment on the subject..

Six voters are challenging the law, enshrined in Senate Bill 824, which the legislature passed in December 2018.

Every year, the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts releases an annual report detailing its budget, programs and highlights from the year before. The 2018-19 annual report was released this week. Below are some of the featured numbers:

North Carolina advocates, election officials and lawmakers answer our questions about holding an election in the era of COVID-19 It’s not easy to forget the photos of masked Wisconsin voters standing in large lines waiting to cast a ballot in the middle of a pandemic. Residents there risked their health and lives to make their voices heard; they chose democracy in the face of uncertainty, and now, the rest of the nation has a chance to learn from them.

Some lawyers are taking side jobs now, but could face a flood of indigent clients when courts reopen  As courts across the state consider reopening, it’s expected that more people with criminal citations or charges will be found indigent after losing their jobs or a significant part of their income during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of these people might need representation from public defenders, but they too, are struggling.

Many media outlets, including Policy Watch, have reported the Department of Public Safety’s side of the COVID-19 response, but it’s rare audiences get to hear from the people serving time. This compilation is meant to provide a glimpse of life in prison during this historic moment. Policy Watch knows the names of the incarcerated people, but is not publishing them because they fear retribution in prison for talking to media. Some of their stories have been edited and condensed for publication.

Last week, several civil rights organizations and incarcerated people filed a lawsuit seeking emergency help from the North Carolina Supreme Court. Conditions for battling the COVID-19 pandemic in prisons and jails are less than ideal, and they’ve asked justices to consider releasing to release as many incarcerated adults and youths as possible in the face of the rapidly spreading virus. Below are several numbers about incarceration and COVID-19 (numbers are current as of Sunday):

Disease poised to spread like "wildfire" at overcrowded ICE detention facilities At Stewart Detention Center in southwest Georgia, 350 immigrants began starving themselves last week to protest the conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ana María Reichenbach, who used to live in North Carolina but is now in New York, spoke to Policy Watch last week about her friend who is being detained at Stewart, where immigrants picked up in North Carolina, as well as other states, are housed.

The challenge of keeping kids and staff safe in juvenile detention facilities The needs of children in detention centers are almost identical to those of adults in jails and prisons, but their age and development can be an added challenge for officials to consider when responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. “They are uniquely ill-equipped to deal with this type of emotional and psychological strain that this virus is causing,” said Dawn Blagrove, Executive Director of Emancipate NC, formerly the Carolina Justice Policy Center.

Advocates, family members plead with Gov. Cooper to to take action "before it's too late" About seven years ago, a Buncombe County man stole a piece of metal from a dumpster and then sold it at a scrap yard. He needed money, because as a chronic substance user he had relapsed after his wife miscarried their child.  The man was charged with larceny and selling property under false pretenses, but because he had previous drug charges — set aside when he graduated a court-ordered substance use program — prosecutors resurrected those charges as part of his sentencing.