See the recent letter the ABA Leadership sent to President Biden and get a better understanding of how our specific recommendations will improve the administration of justice and promote the rule of law.
See the recent letter the ABA Leadership sent to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees and get a better understanding of how our specific recommendations will improve the administration of justice and promote the rule of law.
See the recent letter the ABA Leadership sent to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees and get a better understanding of how our specific recommendations will improve the administration of justice and promote the rule of law.
As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA is committed to protecting and preserving the independence of the judiciary as fundamental to a free society. Here are the issues and reforms we see as vital to accomplishing that objective and improving the administration of justice.
For more information on the Federal Judiciary, please contact Denise Cardman, ABA Deputy Governmental Affairs Director, at [email protected] or (202)662-1761.
One of the most important issues to legal professionals is ensuring full access to our justice system for all, including the millions of low-income Americans who cannot afford the legal assistance needed to access the system. Currently, the best way to provide that access to every one of your constituents is properly funding the largest national non-profit provider of civil legal aid, the Legal Services Corporation (LSC). LSC ensures “Equal Justice Under Law” by providing funding assistance to 132 local legal aid programs in every congressional district. We also need your assistance persuading FEMA to promptly activate and implement the Disaster Legal Services program to help constituents who are victims of COVID-19. For state-by-state breakdowns regarding LSC and letters on the latest COVID-related developments, please see below.
State by state - Breakdowns
The historic passage of the bipartisan First Step Act during the previous administration brought many long-overdue improvements to the federal criminal justice system, but the 116th Congress was unable to successfully build on those achievements. We urge you to take specific actions in the first 100 days of the Biden administration to further improve the criminal justice system by eliminating racial bias; adopting smart sentencing, corrections, and re-entry reforms; and ending lifetime collateral consequences of criminal convictions. Please see below for additional resources on all of these critical issues.
As the largest association of attorneys and legal professionals in the nation, the ABA has a unique interest in ensuring fairness and due process in the immigration enforcement and adjudication systems. But although immigration matters routinely involve issues of life and liberty, the immigration adjudication system lacks some of the most basic due process protections and checks and balances that we take for granted in our justice system. To see how the ABA views these issues and how they can be addressed, please review our report below.
