Long Island case turns spotlight on hundreds trapped as slaves
By Patrice O’Shaughnessy, New York Daily News – June 28

An estimated 14,500 slaves are trafficked into the U.S. each year, forced to toil as restaurant workers, housemaids, prostitutes and migrant farm laborers, according to a national advocacy group called Free the Slaves. Slavery "is not as rare as people think," said Ivy Suriyopas, staff lawyer for the Asian American Legal Defense Fund [and former Equal Justice Works Fellow]. "It's easy to abuse a domestic worker," Suriyopas said. "They're alone, they're immigrants, they don't know the language, they never learn their rights, and they may come from a culture where this treatment is tolerated."

HUD approves Miss. housing plan
By Shelia Byrd, Associated Press – June 25

The federal government has approved Mississippi's $350 million plan to produce thousands of housing units on the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast. Reilly Morse, an attorney with the Mississippi Center for Justice [and Equal Justice Works Fellow], applauded HUD's decision, but said he's continuing to push congressional leaders to reverse the port decision. Morse was among a group of hurricane recovery advocates who traveled to Washington this month to testify about the coast's housing crisis. He said a two-bedroom apartment now rents for an average of $811 a month, compared to about $592 before Katrina.

Stopping Google
By Drake Bennett, Boston Globe – June 22

Google may be widely admired for its technical wizardry and its quick, accurate search engine. But as its influence grows, a number of scholars and programmers have begun to argue that the company is acquiring too much power over our lives - invading our privacy, shaping our preferences, and controlling how we learn about and understand the world around us. “What worries me about Google is that they have access to an incredibly sensitive range of personal data, the depth and breadth of which is unlike anything we've ever seen before," says Kevin Bankston, a lawyer with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an advocacy group [and former Equal Justice Works Fellow]. "A log of your search history is as close to a printout of your brain as we've ever had."

Deal is struck to overhaul wiretap law
By Eric Lichtblau, The New York Times – June 20

After months of wrangling, Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress struck a deal on Thursday to overhaul the rules on the government's wiretapping powers and provide what amounts to legal immunity to the phone companies that took part in President Bush's program of eavesdropping without warrants after the Sept. 11 attacks. The deal, expanding the government's powers to spy on terrorism suspects in some major respects, would strengthen the ability of intelligence officials to eavesdrop on foreign targets. ''No matter how they spin it, this is still immunity,'' said Kevin Bankston, a senior lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a pro-privacy group that is a plaintiff suing over the wiretapping program. ''It's not compromise; it's pure theater.'' Kevin Bankston is a former Equal Justice Works Fellow.

Gay Pride in the Outer Boroughs; Fringe benefits on the city's fringes
By Tony Phillips, The Village Voice – June 17

Bronx Pride wrestles directly with the question of visibility. Perhaps that's appropriate for a borough with such a large, hidden LGBT youth population. "Many people who live up here who are queer still live in the communities that they grew up in," Lisa Winters, executive director of the Bronx Community Pride Center [and former Equal Justice Works Fellow], explains. "They're still connected to their families and religious communities. In Manhattan, there's a sea of anonymity, but in the Bronx, there are still very strong ties to home. We've come a long way, but the more visible we become, the easier it gets. We have to show people who we are."

NCLR welcomes new board members
NCLR – June 17

Greenberg Traurig CEO and Equal Justice Works board member Cesar Alvarez joins the board of directors for the National Council of La Raza.

Commentary: Fathers seek work-life balance, too
By Phoebe Taubman & Yolanda Wu, National Law Journal – June 17

A Better Balance recently conducted a survey of students at New York University School of Law about work and family issues. The results indicate that worries about balancing work and family weigh far more heavily on the minds of top law students than do other career concerns, including compensation and job prestige.
Phoebe Taubman is a project attorney/incoming Equal Justice Works fellow at A Better Balance: The Work & Family Legal Center, based in New York.

TennCare 'cuts' brings accusations of misinformation
By Emily Bregel, The Chattanooga Times – June 16

As part of $468 million in cuts to the state budget, Gov. Phil Bredesen announced in May plans to reduce money budgeted for TennCare coverage for adults who don't qualify for Medicaid but who are severely burdened by medical bills. A maximum of 100,000 people were expected to be covered under the new eligibility category, but the new budget provides coverage only for 20,000 people. "It's a shame that the people of Tennessee cannot rely on the state government honoring their word," said Michele Johnson, attorney with the Tennessee Justice Center [and former Equal Justice Works Fellow]. "It's not fair to the people of the state who desperately need health care and who have relied on that promise."

Gay marriage hits home with legal crusaders
By Bob Egelko, The San Francisco Chronicle – June 15

The two lead attorneys in the lawsuits that toppled California's ban on same-sex marriage come from contrasting backgrounds: one, a San Francisco native who left a corporate law firm for government work that offered a cornucopia of social and legal issues at less pay; the other, a movement lawyer from Texas who has devoted his career to the rights of gays and lesbians in general, and to other transgender people in particular. After attending the University of Texas, [former Equal Justice Works Fellow] Shannon Minter came to the National Center for Lesbian Rights in San Francisco as a summer intern while at Cornell Law School and has worked there since graduating in 1993. As his own gender transformation began in the mid-1990s, he became one of the nation's leading advocates for transgender rights in family law, health care and employment, backing legislation and arguing in court.

Court deems campaign finance rules too weak
By Matthew Mosk, The Washington Post – June 14

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled yesterday that the Federal Election Commission has failed to adequately enforce key aspects of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance restructuring that Congress passed six years ago, and urged the FEC to write new rules that help prevent corporations, unions and special interest groups from influencing federal elections. "The question is . . . does the challenged regulation frustrate Congress's goal of 'prohibiting soft money from being used in connection with federal elections'?" Judge David Tatel [an Equal Justice Works board member] wrote for a three-judge panel. "We think it does."

Sunscreen’s a bleach for aquatic life
By Peter Fimright, The San Francisco Chronicle – June 13

Plopping down on the beach slathered from head to toe with sunscreen may help with the carcinoma, but the inevitable cooling dip in the ocean won't be good for the coral. The creams that sunbathers use to ward off cancer-causing ultraviolet rays cause bleaching in coral reefs and seem to accumulate in fish and other aquatic life, according to recent studies. "Almost 80 percent of our water in the U.S. shows trace amounts of chemicals from personal care products, which could be sunscreens, lotions, colognes or medications," said Sejal Choksi, the program director for Baykeeper [and former Equal Justice Works Fellow].

Warrantless wiretap deal slammed for 'stacked deck' court implications
EFF – June 11

The cross-Capitol debate on warrantless wiretapping continues and, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), there's a new Republican proposal to amend foreign intelligence surveillance law, fronted by Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.) with the reported backing of the White House. One part of the proposal suggests any American citizen who believes he or she has been spied on by government agencies will be able to "have their day in Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court." The Attorney General would be required to certify that telcos acted lawfully and at the request of the president. "The purported immunity 'compromise' announced...by Sen. Bond is a pure sham that's even worse than the original immunity provision passed by the Senate," says EFF Senior Staff Attorney [and former Equal Justice Works Fellow] Kevin Bankston.

Couples from out of state told not to sue
By Bob Egelko, The San Francisco Chronicle – June 11

Gay and lesbian couples from around the country who flock to California to get married in the coming months should try to win support from friends and neighbors when they return home but refrain from filing lawsuits, which could backfire, nine advocacy groups said Tuesday. "We're trying to be very smart and very careful about which cases to bring," said Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights in San Francisco [and former Equal Justice Works Fellow], who represented same-sex couples in the state Supreme Court case.

ACLU urges court to uphold ban on unconstitutional censorship law
ACLU – June 10

The American Civil Liberties Union is in court today, once again urging the courts to uphold a ban on a law that criminalizes constitutionally protected speech on the Internet. The Child Online Protection Act (COPA) would impose draconian criminal sanctions, with penalties of up to $50,000 per day and up to six months imprisonment, for online material acknowledged as protected for adults but deemed "harmful to minors." "For an entire decade, courts have been striking down the so-called Child Online Protection Act as unconstitutional," said Catherine Crump, staff attorney with the ACLU First Amendment Working Group [and 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow]. "COPA is fatally flawed and unconstitutional today, just as it was ten years ago and as it has since been found several times in the courts."

Mobile home land problem needs solving
The Olympian (WA) – June 8

The Tumwater City Council is the latest local government to attempt to referee an escalating conflict between mobile home residents and those who own the property under the homes. In Tumwater, Councilman Ed Stanley will lead a group in developing a draft ordinance imposing mandatory zoning protections against closure of mobile home parks. He hopes to present the plan to the council subcommittee later this month. Olympia attorney John Woodring, representing the Manufactured Housing Communities of Washington, a park owners group, pushed for the law to be voluntary. "A mandatory ordinance is illegal and unconstitutional," Woodring said. Attorney [and 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow] Ishbel Dickens, of the Seattle-based public-¬interest law firm Columbia Legal Services, said the voluntary plan offered no incentives for park owners to comply.

The danger in defining: An activist speaks out on trafficking
By Jennifer Podkul, Feministing – June 6

A battle is brewing on Capitol Hill that will affect some of the world’s most vulnerable people, victims of human trafficking. Last month, the Senate and House passed bills to combat trafficking, but they differ in one critical respect. Specifically, the House-passed bill proposes a major change in the definition of trafficking, one that, quite ironically, will only serve to harm the very victims Congress intended to protect when it passed the TVPA in 2000. Current law defines human trafficking to include labor or commercial sex performed under force, fraud or coercion and minors engaged in commercial sex. The definition of trafficking approved by the House, however, removes all together the requirement that force, fraud, or coercion be present in instances of commercial sex. This is not a minor change. Jennifer Podkul is an Equal Justice Works Fellow at Ayuda representing immigrant victims of human trafficking and other violent crimes.

Baykeeper threatens legal action against Hillsborough, San Mateo County
By Mark Abramson, San Mateo County Times – June 5

A San Francisco-based environmental watchdog group has notified Hillsborough and San Mateo County that it intends to sue both for allegedly violating the federal Clean Water Act. Baykeeper alleges that the county's wastewater and sewage treatment system from Burlingame Hills' and Hillsborough's pipes, which run to Burlingame's treatment plant, are at the root of the problem. "It's the entire Bay Area we are looking at. Everyone has a problem at this point because the infrastructure is so old. The sewage campaign is ongoing with Baykeeper. This is just the beginning." said Sejal Choksi, program director for Baykeeper [and former Equal Justice Works Fellow].

House blasts FEMA, HUD; Lawmakers furious about storm victims' housing
By Maria Recio, The Biloxi Sun-Herald – June 5

At a congressional hearing of two House subcommittees Wednesday, officials from FEMA and HUD failed to satisfy congressional critics about their efforts to find housing for 22,000 Katrina victims still living in trailers nearly three years after the storm. Federal officials defended their efforts to move people out of trailers, now at a rate of 1,000 a week. But Reilly Morse, an attorney for the Mississippi Center for Justice [and Equal Justice Works Fellow], said former HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson was wrong in approving Mississippi's waiver to divert $600 million in housing funds for the port of Gulfport.

Letter to the Editor: Headline falsely suggests a life of catered luxury
Mississippi Center for Justice, The Biloxi Sun Herald – June 2

We were deeply disappointed to read the Sun Herald's May 30 headline "FEMA moving some to hotels, paying for catered meals." While it's true that families moved to hotels have packaged meals delivered at 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. each day, the article fails to explain why: hotel rooms do not have kitchens, a refrigerator, a stove or even a microwave. People are in hotels because of failed policies: FEMA's failure to safely house displaced people; Mississippi's failure to prioritize and build affordable apartments; and local governments' failure to permit affordable housing. This hotel plan is the housing of last resort. This letter to the editor was submitted by Equal Justice Works Senior Program Counsel Karen Lash and Equal Justice Works Fellows Crystal Utley and Reilly Morse, along with John Jopling and Annette Hollowell.

Cesar Alvarez named one of the “50 Most Influential Minority Lawyers in America”
The National Law Journal – June 2

Greenberg Traurig CEO [and Equal Justice Works board member] Cesar Alvarez was named to The National Law Journal’s list of the “50 Most Influential Minority Lawyers in America.”