14th Amendment
The Pennsylvania Superior Court vacated an adjudication because the trial court prevented meaningful participation by defense counsel, violating due process. The court stated in relevant part: While delinquency proceedings may be conducted more informally than adult criminal cases, juveniles are nonetheless entitled to due process during adjudicatory hearings, which includes, inter alia, the right to confront…
From the Abstract: “This article is a practical guide in the fight to abolish the prison-industrial complex as well as institutionalized transphobia and cissexism. Focusing specifically on the practice area of criminal defense, this article proposes a model that must be replicated across jurisdictions wherever transgender people are criminalized. By instituting an interdisciplinary team approach…
The Delaware Family Court granted a motion for relief from sex offender registration requirements in Delaware in a case involving an individual who was adjudicated of a sex offense as a youth in New Jersey and now works full-time in Delaware. The court stated in relevant part: First, under the Privileges and Immunities Clause of Article…
The Pennsylvania Superior Court vacated a probation revocation order because K.W.-D. was deprived of his constitutional right to notice. In this case, the Commonwealth made an oral request to revoke probation in court without filing a written motion or providing advance notice of the specific underlying allegations of the revocation request. The juvenile court then…
This law review article by Professor Tyler Rose Clemons develops a new substantive due process jurisprudence on the right to seek joy. Tracing the historical origins of the right to liberty of the Due Process Clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, this article connects the concept of liberty with the pursuit of happiness, or…
The Fifth Court of Appeals of Texas reversed a sex offense adjudication finding a violation of due process and the right to confrontation when a state investigator signaled to a child witness during their testimony at trial. The court stated in relevant part: “Rather than being a permissible support person, Dear, looking like Santa, interjected…
This complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado challenges Colorado’s practice of keeping dually involved youth detained on a delinquency case due to a lack of placement options in the state’s foster care system. The complaint raises substantive and procedural due process violations and seeks declaratory and injunctive relief. “The…
“In the Supreme Court’s recent United States v. Skrmetti (2025) decision, Justice Amy Coney Barrett raised the novel question: Does the United States have a long-standing history of de jure discrimination against transgender people, perpetrated by state actors through the force of law? This Essay provides the beginnings of an answer to Justice Barrett’s inquiry, demonstrating that throughout the…
The Court of Appeals of Wisconsin held that the state’s reverse waiver statute was unconstitutional “to the extent it does not require circuit courts to consider the unique attributes of youth identified by the United States Supreme Court.” In Wisconsin, a youth’s case that is directly filed in adult criminal court may be sent to…
This guide from the Massachusetts Committee for Public Counsel Services, Immigration Impact Unit, offers defense attorneys a step-by-step outline for handling a client’s case when they are detained in ICE detention facilities or have been deported. From the report: “To address the concerns these open cases pose to our clients, this advisory lays out potential…
This sample motion argues for special discovery and dismissal and/or suppression based on a claim of selective prosecution in a jaywalking case. Highlighting local police data on racial disparities in jaywalking-related stops, this motion argues that police conduct had a discriminatory effect on Black youth in Cincinnati, in violation of their state and federal equal…
This supplemental memorandum is related to the sample motion to dismiss and/or suppress evidence based on selective prosecution, which argues for special discovery and dismissal and/or suppression based on a claim of selective prosecution in a jaywalking case. This supplemental memorandum outlines Ohio’s Equal Protection guarantee in the context of the impact of implicit racial…
The Pennsylvania Superior Court vacated a sentence based on an objective appearance of bias where a former prosecutor against the co-defendant is now presiding as a judge over a related post conviction relief petition. The court stated in relevant part: “In reaching our conclusion, we emphasize that our standard of review is not whether Judge Reichley is…
“The Supreme Court upheld the criminalization of public survival by unhoused people in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson in June 2024. This article examines that decision and considers why Grants Pass had not enforced its camping ban against unhoused people when the author visited the city one year later. One important reason is that…
The California Supreme Court held that the imposition of punitive fines and ancillary costs ordered as part of a criminal sentencing raises equal protection issues that require courts to consider ability to pay before imposing fines and costs. The Court stated in relevant part: “In sum, in light of the Legislature’s provision of fee waivers…
The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the district court’s summary judgment order, finding sufficient evidence for constitutional harm where a jail fails to classify or reclassify individuals who are detained based on their histories, leading to multiple assault incidents in the jail. The court stated in relevant part: “A municipality can be held liable…
“Suspensions, expulsions, and school-based arrests: These exclusionary and overly punitive disciplinary responses disproportionately impact Black students and have become normalized throughout the nation. In reality, school pushout, or the disciplinary sanction of removing students from the classroom, contravenes the very purpose of public education to prepare children to engage as full citizens in our democratic…
In October 2025, the Gault Center convened over three hundred youth defense lawyers and advocates at our annual Youth Defender Leadership Summit. Together, we practiced the cultivation of community in service of building a more just, more liberated, and more human humanity for all children and for us all. This resource captures the shared learnings…
“In the period of the 1960s through 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a set of canonical, key decisions expanding the constitutional doctrines of sexual liberty and privacy, equality, and substantive due process for women and sexual and gender minorities. The Court interpreted these principles to protect contraceptive use, abortion, interracial marriage, the private consumption…
From the Background of this issue brief by National Immigration Law Center: “This issue brief is designed for individuals or groups advocating for state legislation to protect access to a free public K-12 education for immigrant students and for immigrant students to be safe and protected while in school. The brief outlines some steps that…
The First District Court of Appeal in California held that defense counsel was ineffective for failing to present mitigation evidence at a resentencing hearing. The court stated in relevant part: “The judge might also have struck the enhancement as a reasonable response to the evidence of defendant’s intellectual disability and the abuse or neglect he…
“The right to have your day in court is foundational to the U.S. criminal legal system. Yet, many noncitizens in immigration detention facing criminal charges are denied this right when ICE routinely fails to produce immigration detainees to criminal court to resolve charges. In immigration proceedings, immigration judges regularly use those unresolved charges to detain…
