September 23, 2020--The United States House of Representatives passed the Effective Assistance of Counsel in the Digital Era Act earlier this week. The bill has now been sent to the Senate. Due Process Institute has led a coalition effort to urge leaders in the Senate to allow prompt consideration of this important bill. 

We would like to thank Americans for Prosperity, #cut50, Fair and Just Prosecution, Faith & Freedom Coalition, FAMM, Federal Public and Community Defenders, FreedomWorks, Law Enforcement Action Partnership, and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers for joining us in this effort. 

September 21, 2020--The United States House of Representatives passed the Effective Assistance of Counsel in the Digital Era Act, a bill that the Due Process Institute has been working to advance from the beginning. The bill will ensure that email communications between an individual in a federal prison and their attorney will receive the full protections of attorney-client privilege alongside all other forms of communication. It will now be sent to the Senate where we urge that chamber's leadership to promptly allow its consideration on the Senate floor. 

We would like to thank Representatives Hakeem Jeffries and Doug Collins for their leadership on this issue and our many bipartisan coalitions partners in this effort. 

"On behalf of everyone at Due Process Institute and Clause 40 Foundation, I want to express our profound sadness at the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Before she ascended to the High Court, she was a trailblazing civil rights lawyer and appellate court judge. After her elevation to the Supremes, Justice Ginsburg became the leading light of the liberal wing of the Court and an icon to generations of progressive lawyers and activists. 

The coming days and weeks before the presidential election will undoubtedly fuel partisan rancor to extreme levels as the nomination fight looms. But right now, in this moment, members of both parties should join the American people in mourning the loss of such a remarkable woman and jurist.

Requiescat in pace, Justice Ginsburg.”

September 14, 2020--Due Process Institute and a bipartisan group of leaders in Congress have been fighting for months to secure reforms to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that establish reasonable safeguards without hindering our national security. Key provisions of FISA have now lacked Congressional authorization for six months and major concerns have been raised about the widespread misuse of these authorities. Together with allies from across the political spectrum, we sent a letter to House leadership urging them to not utilize an unconventional legislative vehicle for the extension of these authorities that would bar adequate consideration of these controversial and important issues.

September 9, 2020--Today Senators Lee (R-UT), Durbin (D-IL), and Coons (D-DE) introduced The Smarter Pretrial Detention for Drug Charges Act. We are proud to have served as a significant partner in that effort.

If passed, the bill will help fix a serious, structural problem in our federal criminal justice system.  Current law presumes that all federal drug offenders should be held in jail while awaiting trial—that is, before they are convicted of anything.  Today’s bill eliminates this presumption for federal nonviolent drug offenders—the second largest group of people in the federal system—restoring the presumption of innocence and abolishing this unfair and un-American presumption of incarceration.  

If passed, the bill will help to eliminate a leading cause of America’s overincarceration, since the current presumption of detention compels most people facing drug charges to sit in jail as they await their trial, forcing them to consider pleading guilty in order to try to obtain a speedier release. Its burdens fall disproportionately on people of color. Research also now shows that this law does little to protect public safety; all it does is impose a great cost on taxpayers to incarcerate people who should be free while awaiting the resolution of their case.  And it is especially harmful during a pandemic, when COVID-19 is ravaging our jails and prisons, exposing detainees, prison staff, and their families to a potentially deadly disease before their guilt or innocence has even been determined.  

Like the other bipartisan reform bills we have spearheaded, The Smarter Pretrial Detention for Drug Charges Act presents a simple, effective solution to important failures in our system. We worked hard to make this a reality and to ensure bipartisan support by Congressional leaders and an incredibly diverse array of endorsing organizations. Thanks to our many allies who continuously help prove that #BipartisanWorks:  #cut50, a program of Dream Corps, American Civil Liberties Union, American Conservative Union, Americans for Prosperity, Americans for Tax Reform, Black Public Defender Association, Drug Policy Alliance, Fair Trials, FAMM, Federal Public and Community Defenders, FreedomWorks, Innocence Project, Justice Action Network, Justice Roundtable, Leadership Conference, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, National Legal Aid and Defender Association, Prison Fellowship, R Street Institute, Right on Crime, The Sentencing Project, and Tzedek Association.

Read our press release in support of the bill here. Read Senator Durbin's press release here.

August 26, 2020--Due Process Institute joined a coalition of legislative leaders, policy organizations, and legal professionals in calling upon the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons to release more individuals from state prison who are serving unjust sentences, have substantiated claims that were wrongly convicted, and are deserving of grace given their ability to achieve restoration in prison. We urge the Board to utilize its clemency power to its full extent during this time of uncertainty in ways that will not harm public safety. 

August 19, 2020--During 2019, Due Process Institute filed a brief in the Fourth District Court of Appeal in Florida supporting the Appellee in his arguments that law enforcement's use of video surveillance violated the Fourth Amendment. In this case police failed to utilize adequate minimization techniques that prevent any warrant from becoming authorization to surveil anyone at any time. Judge Ciklin agreed with Due Process Institute that law enforcement violated the Fourth Amendment and could not use the video surveillance during the Appellee's trial. 

August 5, 2020--Due Process Institute and a bipartisan coalition of 10 groups called on Congressional leadership to utilize oversight of federal agencies to ensure they are not conducting illegal surveillance of people in the United States through questionable legal authorities. Several provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act have been expired since March but some Executive and Congressional leaders have alleged that authorization of these provisions is not required for federal agencies to conduct mass surveillance of American citizens.

This request follows a letter sent by the Due Process Institute in May requesting transparency and a recent letter sent by Senators Patrick Leahy and Mike Lee. 

July 31, 2020--Due Process Institute's Policy Counsel submitted written testimony to Virginia's Senate Judiciary and Social Services Committees urging the state to adopt reforms that "improve fairness and the effective administration of justice" during the Commonwealth's upcoming special legislative session.

He urged the members of the Virginia General Assembly to adopt the following reforms: 

1. An end to the state's statutory presumptions of pretrial detention for certain crimes that disrespect our principle that every individual is innocent until proven guilty. 

2. Requiring a formal hearing before pretrial incarceration for all individuals arrested or charged with a crime. 

3. Removing one of the largest barriers to police accountability—qualified immunity.