By David Gespass, NLG Past President In 2019, a wave of anti-choice bills swept through state legislatures as anti-abortion politicians moved to restrict access to abortion across the country. After passing an organizational resolution opposing the criminalization of people’s reproductive lives in 2019, Guild members have organized to write and submit amicus briefs in states […]
Category Archives: NLG Blog
NOTE: The views expressed in the NLG Blog are those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the NLG as a whole.
The Attack on Climate Justice Movements
By Traci Yoder, NLG Director of Research and Education NOTE: In 2018, NLG membership voted to expand our mission statement of “human rights over property interests” to include the rights of ecosystems. This update reflects the Guild’s historical support for environmental justice, and our ongoing dedication to challenging the repression environmental movements experience from both […]
What American Drug Culture Reveals about Race in the US
We are publishing this piece as part of the NLG annual student Week Against Mass Incarceration. In 2019, we are highlighting the connections between the exponential increase of incarcerated people and the 40-year War on Drugs. By Lisa Drapkin, NLG Director of Membership The cultural narrative around drug use in the US is constantly shifting, […]
Angela Davis’s Triumphant Return to Birmingham
By David Gespass, NLG Alabama & Past NLG President Among the many privileges I had as president of the Guild, one of the greatest was picking up Angela Davis at the airport and introducing her as the keynote speaker at 75th anniversary #Law4thePeople Convention in 2012 held in Pasadena, CA. Her warmth, humanity and insight […]
Scenes from the UTLA Teachers’ Strike
By Eva Nagao, NLG Los Angeles Member I don’t remember where I was on September 12, 2012. I was in Chicago, but I wasn’t in the streets when the approximately 26,000 members of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) walked out of school and onto the picket lines. The 2012 Chicago school strike was the first […]
NLG Report from the Mexico-US Border
Image: NLG Los Angeles Chapter holding Legal Observer training at CHIRLA for Guild members heading to the border. By Traci Yoder, NLG Director of Research and Education National Lawyers Guild staff traveled to Tijuana the first week of December to observe conditions at the border and to coordinate with our members already on the ground […]
Refugee Caravan: A Legal Observer’s Report from Tijuana
Image: Tents of hunger striking asylum seekers at the border. The tent on the left reads one of their demands, “#2: Que se facilite el proceso legal del asilo USA / #2: That the legal process for US asylum be facilitated.” The tent on the right reads, “Estamos en huelga de hambre / We are […]
Press Release & Demands by Central American Refugees at Border: We Do Not Want to RETURN to Violence
The following is a press release issued by asylum seekers of the Central American Exodus the day after Border Patrol fired migrants, including children, with teargas on 11/26. Scroll below the PDF to read the transcribed press release. Download the PDF file . PRESS RELEASE AND DEMANDS BY CENTRAL AMERICAN EXODUS November 27th / Tijuana, […]
The Conn Crisis: How The Social Security Administration is Waging a Silent War on Thousands of Poor People in Eastern Kentucky
[Content Warning: This article contains content of a sensitive nature relating to suicide.] By Tyler Crawford* & Jessie Boas,*Fordham Law NLG On June 2, 2015, Melissa Jude was on the way to Ned Pillersdorf’s office when she pulled over to the side of the road and ended her life. The week before, SSA demanded that […]
Battle for the Bench: Resisting the Rise of the Judicial Right
By Traci Yoder, NLG Director of Research and Education Recent Supreme Court decisions upholding Trump’s Muslim ban, allowing businesses to discriminate against LGBTQ people, and weakening public sector unions have emphasized the considerable power of the judiciary and the devastating results that occur when it is dominated by conservative judges. With the resignation of Justice […]