News

Forty-three (!) Pennsylvania State Police SWAT team officers execute a pre-dawn, no-knock raid on the home of a Bangor, Penn. family. In legal parlance, they beat the snot out of the family—most egregiously striking a 76-year-old woman in night clothes in the face with a shield, breaking…

As we commemorate Black History Month, it is crucial to reflect on landmark legal cases that have significantly contributed to the ongoing struggle for racial justice. One such pivotal case is Batson v. Kentucky.

At James K. Batson's 1982 state-court trial for burglary and…

After serving for eight years in the District of Columbia Public Defender Service, rising to the position of deputy director, Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., or Tree, as he was affectionately known, was appointed a…

“Black drivers have a problem in Richmond, Virginia. Richmond Police Department (‘RPD’) officers stop Black drivers five times more frequently than white drivers.” 

These are the opening lines in United States v. Kieth Moore…

A true trailblazer, Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray was a scholar, activist, writer, and Episcopal priest who was important in the civil and women’s rights movements.

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, as Anna Pauline in 1910, Murray was raised…

Bryan Stevenson is an attorney, social justice activist, law professor, and founding executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative. His work…

In 1931, Jane Bolin became the first Black woman to graduate from Yale Law School. But that is just one of her long list of firsts — Bolin also went on to become the first Black woman to join the New York City…

Macon Bolling Allen (1816-1894) is thought to have been born around 1816 in Indiana and later moved to Maine.

In Maine,…

Charlotte E. Ray (born January 13, 1850 - January 4, 1911) became the first African-American woman to graduate from a law school, and the first to formally practice law in the United States in 1872.

In the 19th century, most women – and particularly women of color – were…

In highly unusual en banc news, the Tenth Circuit has decided following panel argument that, rather than issue a…