» civil rights

Access to the civil justice system increasingly at risk

An expanding campaign about legal technicalities, if successful, would have real consequences for plaintiffs and their counsel: further limitations on effective prosecution of, and meaningful damages recoveries in, employment law, civil rights, and c… Read More

More judicial activism from the Supreme Court

The time-honored practice of the Supreme Court has been to take cases for review when there is a significant disagreement among the Circuit Courts of Appeals about how to apply a legal principle. Not anymore evidently, at least when it comes to civil… Read More

The labor movement forward

In the past year, workers and their allies in the larger communities have been coalescing around the cause for a living wage and workplace fairness generally. The organizing and related job actions by these employees across the nation have included u… Read More

ALEC turns 40 and continues to subvert the legal system

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is the best known of several highly ideological bill mills that are designated as charities for tax purposes despite being dominated by some of the wealthiest corporations in the world. ALEC recently c… Read More

Opening doors by closing the box

For years, people who served time for a crime they committed have had difficulty finding steady employment that enables them to reenter society as productive contributors. One of the main ways that a person’s criminal record has continued to limit… Read More

A widening disconnect

This past term generated a number of opinions by the Supreme Court that evidently reflect disregard as much for practical reality as for long-standing law. Although the pro-corporate bias of the Supreme Court is nothing new, the degree of that bias i… Read More

The Supreme Court’s radical ruling for the proverbial 1%

The latest decision by the Supreme Court about the arbitration of statutory claims will, going forward, preclude court action even when doing so deprives small businesses and many people of any meaningful legal recourse. In rendering such an extreme… Read More

What is harassment?

Both Federal and State courts have adopted evolving definitions of what amounts to harassment in violation of civil rights and employment laws. Based on a series of decisions by the United States Supreme Court, the general understanding of harassment… Read More

A wake-up call for those addressing corporate wrongdoing

One of the most important tools for ending misdeeds and for compensating the resulting victims is litigation prosecuted on a class-wide basis. Consistent with its apparently escalating hostility toward such systemic legal action, the Supreme Court re… Read More

Class actions under arbitral attack

The Supreme Court has continued to exhibit a preference for arbitration over court litigation in a number of recent rulings, including those that have limited the ability to pursue class actions and collective actions. The Supreme Court’s agenda se… Read More