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Mr. Richard E. Johnson Can civil rights plaintiffs be made to pay defendant's attorney fees?
Law Office of Richard E. Johnson

Tallahassee, FL 		Can a plaintiff who loses a federal civil rights case be made to pay the defendant’s attorney fees under state law? Assume a defendant wins summary judgment on both federal and state-law claims that share a common nucleus of operative fact. Federal law only allows for prevailing plaintiffs to recover attorney fees, but state law provides for prevailing party fees on an equal basis for plaintiff and defendant alike. Defendant claims 50% of fees since the hours on the state and federal claims are inseparable. Is there an argument that the defendant’s inability to receive fees on the federal claim preempts the defendant’s ability to recover fees on the related state claim? What are the policy implications of state tort reform on longstanding federal civil rights law?
Topic Available
Mr. Shahid Ali Buttar When senior U.S. officials are complicit in enhanced interrogation techniques that some describe as torture, what is the potential impact on the international legal regime?
Bill of Rights Defense Committee

Northampton, MA 		Despite international commitments to investigate allegations of torture, and the Nuremberg precedent requiring prosecution throughout the chain of command, senior U.S. officials confront neither prosecution nor investigation for potential war crimes (including torture) violating international treaties, federal statutes, and the Constitution. Can the international legal regime founded after WWII survive violations by the nation that pioneered it? Does a limited investigation of junior level players ratify the legality of torture, even if repudiated as a policy matter? Will it invite further torture in the future? And does it threaten the legitimacy of the criminal justice system generally?
Topic Available
Mr. Shahid Ali Buttar Do police stops for the purposes of domestic surveillance / intelligence collection implicate Fourth Amendment protections?
Bill of Rights Defense Committee

Northampton, MA 		Law enforcement authorities increasingly stop law-abiding Americans for searches or interrogations without suspicion of criminal activity, for the purposes of collecting intelligence information for retention, datamining, and dissemination to other agencies. When police officers interact with an individual on such grounds, should they be constrained according to a formalistic understanding of the Fourth Amendment operable only in the context of criminal law enforcement, or should a functional standard (recognizing the powerlessness of the individual relative to the officers) apply? What is the meaning of the Fourth Amendment under the preventive paradigm?
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Ms. Beth Orlansky Should childcare be considered an “essential service” such that childcare providers qualify for FEMA funding following a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina?
Mississippi Center for Justice

Jackson, MS 		Following Hurricane Katrina, FEMA provided funds to rebuild “essential services.” Zoos were on the list of essential providers, but childcare providers were not. Should a childcare provider be able to get FEMA funding to rebuild following a natural disaster? What are the arguments for and against including childcare providers in the list of essential services? What can be done now to ensure that working parents will have affordable childcare after the next disaster strikes?
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Mr. Reilly Morse What can Mississippi housing advocates take from the recent ADC v. Westchester County Fair Housing decision to challenge Mississippi's analysis of impediments to fair housing in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina?
Mississippi Center for Justice

Biloxi, MS 		When state and local governments accept federal funding for housing and community development from Housing and Urban Development, the grantee must certify to HUD that it will affirmatively further fair housing as a condition of receiving funds. Uncertainty about what constitutes "affirmatively further", the requirement to consider the impact of race, and what action is required if race-related impediments exist, continues after a recent federal case in the Southern District of NY. Mississippi Center for Justice seeks research on the applicability of recent case law on the analysis of Mississippi's identified impediments to Fair Housing.
Topic Available
Ms. Linda Rigsby Legality of disparate medical costs charged to insured and uninsured people
Mississippi Center for Justice

Jackson, MS 		The uninsured pay far more for the same medical care and procedures than people with insurance. A doctor treating an insured patient may get $5,000 for a rotator cuff surgery while her uninsured patient pays over $20,000 for the identical procedure. In Mississippi, the primary reason families are forced into bankruptcy and lose their homes is the grossly differentiated medical costs for the uninsured. We welcome an analysis of prior efforts to litigate the fairness of the differential, and an assessment of the viability of state and/or federal court litigation in Mississippi in the future.
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Ms. Beth Orlansky Should Medicaid cover poor children with developmental delays?
Mississippi Center for Justice

Jackson, MS 		Children in poverty often don't get services they need to address developmental delays, increasing the chance they will not start school ready to learn, and in many cases, will not ever catch up. First Steps, Mississippi Dept. of Health's early intervention program, is intended to help infants and children up to age 3 with developmental delays. However, the state has no funding for intervention therapies. Do any states cover program costs with Medicaid? Is it an allowable service under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act? Should private insurance or other federal programs cover this essential early help?
Topic Available
Ms. Annie Orelind Decker Local planning commissions and race-based impact
Impact Section, County of Santa Clara, California

San Jose, CA 		Local planning commissions dispense funding for a wide of array of public services such as healthcare, public transit, sanitation, and waste management. These commissions, however, often have membership structures that do not track population size. This disadvantages densely populated areas, which often also have high minority populations. Does disparate per capita public services funding for minorities compared to per capita public services funding for non-minorities violate Equal Protection or Title VI of the Civil Rights Act?
Topic Available
Ms. Annie Orelind Decker One-person one-vote rule and planning commissions
Impact Section, County of Santa Clara, California

San Jose, CA 		Public services planning commissions shoulder the important responsibility of ensuring adequate modes and supplies of public services (such as healthcare, public transit, sanitation, and waste management). Their membership structures often do not track population size. Does this disproportionate membership structure violate the one-person one-vote rule that arises under Equal Protection principles? The two traditional obstacles to such challenges are (1) that planning commissions are appointed bodies, and (2) that they are considered non-governmental organizations. What arguments can be made that these arguments no longer guide the one-person one-vote analysis?
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Ms. Lael E Robertson ADA AA and its Fair Housing Act Implications
Legal Aid Society of Minneapolis

Minneapolis, MN 		The passage of the ADA Amendments Act in 2008 significantly expanded the definition of disability and thereby provides persons with disabilities more protection under the three titles of the ADA. The Fair Housing Act has many protections for persons with disabilities within the housing context. However, nothing in the ADAA has expanded its new protection to the FHA. How will the changes to the ADA AA affect cases under the FHA? If there is nothing specifically in the ADA AA regarding its effect on other substantially similar laws, how are they affected?
Topic Available
Ms. Amy Guey-Sun Chen Disability Rights of Applicants/Recipients of Public Benefits Assistance
Bay Area Legal Aid

Oakland, CA 		Oftentimes, recipients of public benefits such as Medi-Cal, CalWORKS, SSI (Supplemental Security Income), SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance), and food stamps have one or more mental and/or physical disabilities. Indeed, it is oftentimes these very disabilities which cause them to turn to public benefits for assistance in the first place. Bay Area Legal Aid has many clients whose disabilities result in their having difficulties receiving proper services at their County Social Services Agencies. We are interested in exploring what the disability rights of these applicants and recipients of public benefits assistance are.
Topic Available
Ms. Amy Guey-Sun Chen Medi-Cal Funding for Mental Health Services
Bay Area Legal Aid

Oakland, CA 		The current structure of Medi-Cal funding for mental health services does not allow for adequate portability of care. If a Medi-Cal recipient is temporarily out-of-county (or for foster care children placed out of County), the funding structure for mental health services under Medi-Cal often results in providers not being able to obtain reimbursement for mental health coverage, and therefore not providing it to out-of-County Medi-Cal recipients. What is the funding structure for mental health services under Medi-Cal? What are out-of-County providers obligated to pay? What are some potential fixes?
Topic Available
Mr. Reilly Morse Consumer protection for contractor fraud post-Katrina
Mississippi Center for Justice

Biloxi, MS 		Many Mississippians fortunate enough to receive post-Katrina homeowner assistance grants and insurance proceeds on the Mississippi coast had the cash they needed to repair their homes. Unfortunately, the scarcity of skilled workers enabled scam artists and unscrupulous "contractors" to take large deposits before work began and either disappeared or did such shoddy work families ended up worse off than when they started. Mississippi statutory law provides few, if any, consumer protections against this kind of fraud. What should the Mississippi Center for Justice legislative agenda be? What legal protections have worked effectively in other states?
Topic Available
Mr. Jim Neuhard Are state constitutional rights that aren't found in the U.S. Constitution enforceable in federal court?
Michigan's State Appellate Defender Office

Detroit, MI 		Under what circumstances, if any, can federal courts enforce rights that are explicitly guaranteed in state constitutions but not in the federal constitution? Can the process by which states were admitted to the union or the state’s constitution itself allow federal courts to hold states accountable for granting specific rights not guaranteed under the federal constitution? For example, the Michigan Constitution specifically guarantees the right to an appeal, yet the Federal Constitution only infers that right from the 14th and 5th amendment’s right to due process.
Topic Available
Indigent criminal defendant�s right to be represented by same lawyer at all stages of prosecution

The definition of the right to counsel for criminal defendants and what effective counsel means is not always clear cut. The changing interpretation of Gideon has opened new questions as to how far the right to counsel extends. Does an indigent criminal defendant have a Sixth Amendment right to be represented by the same lawyer at all critical stages of a criminal prosecution, absent extraordinary circumstances or a knowing, intelligent, and voluntary waiver? Is it really effective representation if a defendant has a new counsel at every stage of the criminal prosecution?
Topic Available
The right to legal representation at the government’s expense in removal proceedings
National Legal Aid & Defender Association
Imagine you are miles from anyone you know, have no money and no support, facing deportation at a removal proceeding. You have been told that you have the right to legal counsel, but if you want to exercise that right you must find a pro bono attorney or pay one yourself. Currently, anyone involved in a removal proceeding has a right to legal representation – but that representation cannot be paid for by the government. What are the arguments that individuals in removal proceedings should have the right to be provided with legal representation at the government’s expense?
Topic Available
Protecting client confidentiality from intrusion by third-party funders of civil legal services programs
National Legal Aid & Defender Association
Many civil legal aid services are funded by third parties that have auditing and reporting requirements to know what funds are being spent on. Not all states have restrictions on what information can be handed over to third party funders for these services, putting the client’s personal information in jeopardy. What protections do clients have when the attorney-client relationship is intruded upon by third-party funders of civil legal services programs?
Topic Available
Mr. Keith Roberts What Trial Judges Do
ABA Judicial Division, Lawyers' Conference

NY, NY 		It appears that many of the cases processed through trial courts, perhaps even most of them, do NOT involve disputes. Neither the facts nor the law are in question. Hypothesis: instead of resolving disputes, judges are processing social problems and coordinating social services. We have no data, however, to either support or refute this perception. This paper would result from an effort to review the relevant literature, not only law reviews, but also political science, criminalogical, sociological and economic books and journals, to find the data and thinking about what judges do in the 21st century.
Topic Available
Mr. James Neuhard Considering the history of habeas corpus and recent “original intent” decisions, where does Congress derive the power to eliminate or curtail the Writ?
Michigan's State Appellate Defender Office

Detroit, MI 		In 1996, Congress passed the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA). The US Constitution states: Article 9 "The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it." The AEDPA significantly curtailed the availability of and eliminated the right to file the writ if not filed timely or if a successor petition. Considering the history of habeas corpus and recent “original intent…” USSC decisions, where does Congress derive the power to eliminate or curtail the Writ? Are there potential legal challenges to AEDPA?
Topic Available
Mr. Keith Roberts Usage of Courts of General Jurisdiction
Lawyers Conference of the ABA's Judicial Division

New York, NY 		Have businesses and wealthier consumers decreased their use of general jurisdiction courts, in the urban states, for resolving disputes? Do they increasingly use federal and specialized courts or ADR? Has legislative funding for state general jurisdiction courts declined? Research: The paper will discuss this topic in light of historical statistics from the 1960s to date. The goal is to learn whether a bifurcation of the legal system is occurring, in which much of the legal system is becoming part of the welfare system. Note: the Lawyers Conference is not affiliated with ACS.
Topic Available
Fourth Amendment Requirements for Immigration Detention
ACLU of Southern California
Many cases establish that the Fourth Amendment applies to law enforcement in the immigration context. However, although it is generally believed that the Fourth Amendment requires that a criminal suspect be brought before a Magistrate for a probable cause and bail hearing within forty-eight hours of arrest, in the immigration context non-citizens are detained without being brought before magistrates at all. By regulation, the only requirement is that a deportation officer conduct a probable cause determination, which is done without any hearing or presentment before a neutral judicial decisionmaker. Is this consistent with the Fourth Amendment?
Topic Available
Ms. Cacilia Kim How can a whole institution, like a hospital or clinic (as opposed to an individual employee), be prevented from declining to provide certain services based on a "moral conscience" argument?
California Women's Law Center

Los Angeles, CA 		What legal arguments can be made against allowing a whole institution (as opposed to an individual), like a hospital or clinic, from declining to provide certain services, like abortion, based on a "moral conscience" argument? Any additional arguments if the institution is receiving state and/or federal funding?
Topic Available
Mr. David W. Floren Esq. The Feres Doctrine - No Rational Basis for the Judicial Exception to the Federal Tort Claims Act for Military Serviceperson Claims
David W. Floren, Attorney at Law

Berkeley, CA 		In the 1950 Feres decision, a unanimous US Supreme Court created a judicial exception the the Federal Tort Claims Act preventing military servicepersons from exercising a fairly unambiguous federal statutory right under the Act to file claims against the federal government for injuries sustained "incident to service." Subsequent Supreme Court rulings on the Feres Doctrine have expanded the doctrine's reach. With each new opinion, the pool of dissenters grew, ending with the latest decision in Johnson v. US (1987) (a 5-4 decision). What are the pro and con arguments? What outside authority might be relevant to the issue?
Topic Available
Mr. Jonathan Sacks Right to Discovery on Appeal based on U.S. Constitution and Michigan Law
State Appellate Defender Office - Michigan

Detroit, MI 		Indigents face particular hurdles when gathering evidence for defending against criminal charges. When defense counsel receives only part of the available case material at trial, under what circumstances can an indigent defendant gain access to further discovery on appeal when required by enforcement authorities to pay an amount that is neither provided by the court nor affordable by the indigent? While U.S. constitutional principles are certainly relevant, this project also requires examining Michigan caselaw. One approach may entail comparing Michigan law and procedure against those of other states allowing indigents relatively greater access to discovery on appeal.
Topic Available
Ms. Odette J. Wilkens Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act
Equal Justice Alliance

Forest Hills, NY 		How are First Amendment rights affected by anti-terrorism legislation such as the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, and what laws obviate the need for such a law? This recently enacted anti-terrorism law could chill the free speech civil rights of American citizens who would advocate for labor, civil rights, the environment, as well as animals. It could potentially prosecute any American citizen trying to exercise their free speech rights even if they cause no harm or damage, or if they cause any corporate profit loss.
Topic Available