Improved Representation for Indigent Criminal Defendants in Georgia
Late in 2011, a state-wide settlement in Georgia set new standards for the quantity and quality of state-provided counsel for indigent criminal defendants in new trial and appellate proceedings. The parties agreed in this state-court litigation that because of the litigation, a vast backlog of requests for counsel had cleared; the settlement set up procedures to ensure that, going forward, persons entitled to representation will no longer have to wait years for help.
Relevant case(s) include:
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Olmstead v. L.C.
In this landmark case, brought in 1995, decided by the Supreme Court in 1999, and concluded in the district court in 2000, persons unnecessarily confined to institutions for care relating to mental or intellectual disabilities won the right to state-funded community-based treatment options. The U.S. Supreme Court held that unjustified segregation in institutions constitutes illegal discrimination, under the Americans with Disabilities Act, not only because it perpetuates unwarranted assumptions that people with disabilities are incapable or unworthy of participating in community life, but because confinement in an institution severely curtails everyday life activities, such as family relations, social contacts, work, educational advancement and cultural enrichment. The Supreme Court decision has led to an entire category of litigation (usually referred to as "Olmstead litigation"); the Clearinghouse has collected dozens of these cases here.
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Ebbert v. Nassau County
Late in 2011, a class of female employees of the Nassau County New York Police Department, represented by private counsel, settled their six-year litigation to enforce their right to pay and employment opportunities equal to those of their male counterparts. On December 22, 2011, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York approved a $7,000,000 class settlement. No injunctive relief was included in the settlement.
Many equal employment cases are brought by the EEOC or the U.S. Department of Justice, but most of these cases are litigated by private attorneys. You can find other large-scale private employment discrimination class actions in this Clearinghouse special collection.
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Blanket strip search policy upheld by Ninth Circuit; reason for arrest immaterial
In 2010, the Ninth Circuit found it reasonable (under the Fourth Amendment) for all new arrestees in the City and County of San Francisco to be strip searched by deputies, regardless of why they were arrested. Most federal courts of appeals have answered this question the other way, limiting strip searches to cases involving violent or drug offenses, or in which there is individualized reason to suspect the arrestee of possessing contraband. The Clearinghouse has a large collection of class actions alleging illegal jail strip searches, mostly resulting in large settlements for plaintiffs. The Supreme Court agreed in 2011 to review this legal issue; arguments were heard in October 2011.
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Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
Even though this is the most famous civil rights case ever, the relevant litigation documents are not easy to come by. The Supreme Court decisions, in 1954 (announcing the rule that "separate is inherently unequal") and 1955 (announcing that remediation of Jim Crow school segregation could proceed "with all deliberate speed"), were obviously extraordinarily important, and are easily available. But the litigation in Topeka lasted from the filing of the first complaint in 1951 until final dismissal of the case in 1999. The Clearinghouse has copies of many of the crucial documents in the case.
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