Trending Topics

Media

Filter






MacArthur Justice Center’s Statement on President Biden’s Federal Death Penalty Commutations

We welcome the fulfillment of President Biden’s promise to commute the death sentences of 37 people on federal death row. The federal death penalty – just like state capital punishment systems – is racist, error-prone, drains public resources, and does not deter crime or make our communities safer. We encourage President Biden to finish the...

Lawsuit: Muslim prayer rights denied in Wisconsin jail

“One of the goals of bringing a lawsuit is not only to seek justice for Mr. Emad, but to also change Dodge County’s detention facility policies and practices related to providing religious programming for people who are not of the Christian faith,” del Valle said.

UPI

Muslim inmate denied rights to prayer by Wisconsin jail

“So we brought a civil rights case against a number of players. We brought them against a number of ICE officers, against a number of correctional officers and the the detention center and also against the medical care provider of the detention center,” Valla says. “So there were a lot of claims, and they centered...

NPR

De Facto Book Ban in Missouri Prisons Violates First Amendment Rights Says Washington University First Amendment Clinic and MacArthur Justice Center

ST. LOUIS — Citing a violation of the First Amendment, the First Amendment Clinic at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, with the support of Roderick & Solange MacArthur Justice Center, has filed suit to overturn a de facto book ban in Missouri prisons. In late 2023, the Missouri Department of Corrections (MoDOC)...

MacArthur Justice Center’s Alexa Van Brunt announced as 2025 Civil Leadership Academy Fellow

Class of local nonprofit and government fellows embarks on interdisciplinary leadership development program in service of effective governance CHICAGO, IL — The University of Chicago Center for Effective Government (CEG) at the Harris School of Public Policy today announced its 2025 class of Civic Leadership Academy (CLA) fellows—some of the area’s most promising government and...

MJC Statement on the firing of Michele Buckner, warden of South Central Correctional Center in Licking, Missouri

We received news that Ms. Buckner was fired following a drug and contraband investigation. We have recently been investigating conditions at SCCC, where there have been 19 deaths in the past year alone. Many of these deaths were fentanyl overdoses, despite the Missouri Department of Correction’s (MoDOC) efforts to isolate incarcerated people from drugs by...

Michigan Supreme Court to weigh whether 19- and 20-year-old killers should be resentenced

The Detroit News

New Orleans-based Organizations File Class Action Lawsuit Against State on behalf of Unhoused Residents

NEW ORLEANS — Raymond Scott, an unhoused New Orleans resident, has now alleged class-wide allegations in his complaint against the Louisiana State Police, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, and the Louisiana Department of Transportation. The lawsuit seeks to prevent these state entities from evicting unhoused residents and seizing their property without constitutional protections...

Navajo DAPL Water Protector Lawsuit Proceeds in Appeals Court

On December 6, Marcus Mitchell, a Navajo tribal member who was subjected to excessive violence while peacefully protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline in January 2017, filed an appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. The MacArthur Justice Center is representing Mr. Mitchell in this lawsuit. This is the second time Mr....

Louisiana Court Bars State Agencies from Sweeping Encampments Without Constitutional Protections

NEW ORLEANS — Today, the Orleans Civil District Court delivered a significant win to the unhoused community in New Orleans, granting a preliminary injunction preventing the Louisiana State Police and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries from removing, evicting, displacing — also known as “sweeping” — encampments without constitutional protections. The order also stops the...