Legislation & Lobbying

3287 ABA Journal Legislation & Lobbying articles.

ABA has a long history of advocating for indigent defense and public defenders

For more than a century, the ABA has advocated on issues related to indigent defense, primarily through its Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defense. In fact, SCLAID (when it was operating as the Standing Committee on Legal Aid Work) stated in its 1937 annual report: “We believe that every man accused of serious crime is absolutely entitled to counsel and that, if too poor to employ one, society must furnish him that lawyer.”

Apr 1, 2023 12:20 AM CDT

Members will return to Capitol Hill for in-person advocacy during ABA Day

For the first time since 2019, the ABA is convening on Capitol Hill for ABA Day. The annual advocacy event, which is scheduled for March 27-29, is an opportunity for Congress members to hear directly from their constituents about the association’s legislative priorities. Top of this year’s list: funding for the Legal Services Corp.

Mar 23, 2023 1:03 PM CDT

Daughter sues agency after DNA test IDs likely suspect in institutionalized mother’s rape

A woman who used AncestryDNA to find the man who likely raped her developmentally disabled mother in an institution has sued the New York agency that employed him as a caretaker.

Mar 15, 2023 9:00 AM CDT

States don’t have to ‘stand idly by and watch the carnage,’ 11th Circuit says in upholding age restriction on gun sales

Mar 9, 2023 3:21 PM CST

Law prof isn’t sure whether Florida blogger bill applies to him, says second bill would help cop defamation suits

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican-dominated state legislature are “willing to take their chances in court” with performative legislation that goes beyond the law as it currently stands, according to a professor at the Florida International University College of Law.

Mar 7, 2023 9:36 AM CST

ABA task force issues 14 guiding principles to improve plea bargaining system

An ABA task force that spent three years examining problems in plea bargaining has released recommendations that judges, lawyers, lawmakers and other stakeholders can follow to create a fairer, more transparent process.

Feb 22, 2023 9:48 AM CST

Meet Holly Cook, director of the ABA Governmental Affairs Office

When Holly Cook joined the ABA in January 2012, she brought with her more than two decades of experience in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps. “I thought I was going to Afghanistan and deploying yet again. But I got a phone call one day saying they were looking for someone to come to the Governmental Affairs Office,” Cook says. “I loved working with the Hill. So I thought, ‘All right.’”

Feb 21, 2023 9:01 AM CST

Man who spent 28 years in prison is exonerated with help of pro bono lawyers

A 2021 Missouri law that allows prosecutors to ask courts to set aside wrongful convictions has resulted in the exoneration of a man who spent 28 years in prison for murder.

Feb 16, 2023 8:39 AM CST

ABA resolves to ‘take a leadership role in opposing antisemitism’

Citing events like the 2017 riots in Charlottesville, Virginia; the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol; and recent synagogue shootings in Pennsylvania and California, proponents of Resolution 514 asked the ABA to formally condemn antisemitism.

Feb 7, 2023 8:38 AM CST

New recreational cannabis laws could make it harder for employers to fire impaired workers

New Jersey now has the equivalent of hall monitors in some workplaces. Except these hall monitors—known officially as workplace impairment recognition experts—are keeping an eye on the adults in the building. They are looking for signs the adults are high.

Feb 1, 2023 1:00 AM CST

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