WASHINGTON – This afternoon, Devi Rao, Director, DC Office, Director, Supreme Court and Appellate Program for the MacArthur Justice Center released the following statement on today’s United States Supreme Court decision regarding Trump v. U.S.: 

“One of the central founding principles of our Nation is that the President is not a King. Our Framers believed that no one is above the law. The MacArthur Justice Center believes this too, which is why we fight to hold people with power in the criminal legal system accountable for their actions. Today, the Supreme Court failed the American people, in declaring that a former President has presumptive immunity from prosecution for his official acts. As Justice Sotomayor pointed out in her dissent, the decision ‘makes a mockery of the principle, foundational to our Constitution and system of Government, that no man is above the law.’” 

Additionally, Gregory Cui, Supreme Court and Appellate Counsel,  for the MacArthur Justice Center released the following statement on City of Grants Pass v. Johnson:

“In a concerning and erroneous ruling, the Supreme Court held in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson that the Eighth Amendment allows a city to criminally punish people for sleeping in public spaces when no alternative shelter is available. As Justice Sotomayor explained in her dissent, the majority is wrong: “Sleep is a biological necessity, not a crime,” and the Eighth Amendment forbids punishing people who sleep outside because it “is their only option.” Justice Sotomayor, joined by Justice Kagan and Justice Jackson, cited the amicus curiae brief filed by our clients, criminal law and punishment scholars William W. Berry III, Sharon Dolovich, Christopher Lewis, and Aaron Littman, in explaining how the Grants Pass ordinances “single out for punishment the activities that define the status of being homeless.” The majority’s refusal to recognize that the Eighth Amendment prohibits such punishment will have significant consequences for those affected by the city’s harmful policy, and for those working to protect civil rights across the country. That said, as Justice Sotomayor explained, there are still other legal tools available to challenge these laws. The MacArthur Justice Center stands in solidarity with those fighting to ensure that everyone has a safe place to live.”

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The Roderick & Solange MacArthur Justice Center is a national, nonprofit legal organization dedicated to protecting civil rights and fighting injustice in the criminal legal system through litigation at the trial, appellate, and Supreme Court levels. www.macarthurjustice.org

About Devi Rao:  

Devi M. Rao is the Director of the Washington D.C. office and the Supreme Court and Appellate Program at the MacArthur Justice Center. She briefs and argues important civil rights and criminal justice issues in federal appeals courts across the country, and in the U.S Supreme Court, including qualified immunity, excessive force, municipal liability issues, habeas, access to the courts, and federal sentencing issues. She also teaches at Harvard Law School, co-directing the law school’s Criminal Justice Appellate Clinic and Seminar.

Prior to joining the MacArthur Justice Center, Devi was a partner in the Supreme Court and Appellate practice at a major law firm. Devi previously served as a law clerk for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the U.S. Supreme Court and for Judge M. Margaret McKeown on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Between her clerkships, Devi served as a Skadden Fellow at the National Women’s Law Center, where her work focused on using Title IX to combat sex-based discrimination, including discrimination on the basis of gender identity.

Devi received her J.D. from Columbia Law School in 2010, where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Columbia Law Review, and her B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley.

About Gregory Cui:

Gregory Cui joined the Supreme Court & Appellate Program of the MacArthur Justice Center in 2023. Prior to joining, Cui was an attorney in the commercial litigation and appellate practices of Sidley Austin LLP. There, Cui litigated high-stakes appeals in federal court and led a team of pro bono attorneys who helped challenge the detention of noncitizens in appalling conditions at a jail in Indiana. Cui also taught a course on legal writing and oral advocacy at the University of Virginia School of Law.

Cui previously served as a law clerk to Justice Sonia Sotomayor on the U.S. Supreme Court, Judge William A. Fletcher on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and Judge Jesse M. Furman on the Southern District of New York. Cui graduated from Yale Law School and Rutgers University.