The Justice Beat (August 4, 2017)
Each week we will share some of the discussions and thinking affecting people and the justice system.
This week, we look at the evolving landscape of protected rights (focusing on immigrants, gender and identity, and children) and new intersections of tech and law (from tweets to AI).
Immigration
1. Nury, a housekeeper, mother and undocumented US resident was ordered to leave the country last month. Instead of complying, she took refuge in a local church. A federal judge has now issued an order protecting her from deportation.
2. Just two years after graduating, two former law school classmates have started a firm to help immigrants combat new deportation efforts. They have received graphic emails, death threats — and a swell of support from conservatives and liberals alike.
Gender and identity
3. The DOJ is arguing that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (banning workplace sexual discrimination) doesn’t protect against sexual orientation discrimination. Many rights groups contend this is institutionalized bigotry.
4. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says there won’t be any policy change regarding transgender people in the military until POTUS sends specific direction. This keeps the question of the legal impact of presidential tweets at the forefront.
Child welfare
5. The difference between an easily repairable parenting hiccup and incarceration along with lasting child developmental issues can be as simple as where you live. For many, foster care is a form of punishment for being poor.
Norms and laws
6. POTUS’s tweets carry a lot of weight in the public eye. How much weight do they carry in court when he’s refuting statements made by his own advisors about an executive order? (paywall)
7. “The question of the presidential self-pardon remains unresolved.” Constitutional scholars weigh in on the legal issues that play into this new (and old) topic. (paywall)
Future of law
8. Tomorrow’s legal system is likely to involve artificial intelligence and plenty of it. In addition to other skills, digital systems that address tomorrow’s legal industry need robust emotional intelligence in order to effectively work with clients.
9. The annual Altman Weil Flash survey on law firms in transition takes an objective look at the market forces informing stakeholders’ outlooks on where the legal industry is headed — and how quickly it might get there.
Spotlight on select CrowdJustice cases
- Justice for Children Sentenced to Die in Prison (13 days to go)
- The DeQuince Brown Freedom Fund (12 days to go)
- Justice for Wrongfully Arrested Alton Sterling Protesters (4 days to go)
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