It has been an exciting, perhaps scary month for 1,500 beagles removed from Ridglan Farms-- a beagle breeding facility that sold beagles for commercial (toxicology) and medical experiments. They were first transported to sanctuaries/shelters for medical check-ups, mass spay and neutering, and thereafter, began to transition to foster homes. Many dogs are slowly decompressing; emerging out of their crates (or abandoning those crates altogether); adapting to walks outside and learning to accept love. 650 beagles remain in Ridglan for in-house experimentation under Ridglan's USDA "R" license. Congressman Mark Pocan and Nick Langworthy are working to strip them of that "R" license, free the final 650 beagles and shut Ridglan down.

This administration's Secretary of Health and Human Services, RFK Jr., seems receptive to dialing back the use of dogs and cats in medical experimentation, so the committee discussed how to take advantage of the opportunity. Specifically, Taj Uppal, Esq. spoke of research he has done (and continues doing) related to a primate lab in his home state.

Concerned about the "Save Our Bacon" language in the current Farm Bill, Megan Mackie, Esq. of California contacted her Senators, requesting they reject language that would undermine California's Prop 12, Massachusetts's Question 3 and hard-won, state-level bans on gestation crates in nine other states, all of which prohibit gestation crates. If the Save Our Bacon language is not removed, the federal FARM BILL will override voter-approved state laws that protect farm animals, allowing corporate operations to resume extreme confinement for sows and veal calves. Megan shared her letter with us, so that we too can call and email our Senators.

Our colleague Derek Brummer, Esq. of Pennsylvania is working with Humane PA to ban foie gras in Philadelphia (it is already banned in Pittsburgh). Derek is also seeking meetings with Pennsylvania Rep. Hanbidge and Senator Collett to re-establish a rodeo ban in Pittsburgh. In July 2024, after a 30-year ban, a sneaky provision was inserted into the Pennsylvania budget without discussion or publicity. The two sentences allowed Professional Bull Riders to resume appearing in the PPG Paints Arena, a 19,000-seat multi-use venue.

Jake Mace had the best news of all this meeting: he has just graduated from University of Louisville's law program and will begin studying for the July Bar. Before law school Jake was an Urban & Cultural Geography PhD student, and as part of that program designed and taught a course on Animal Geographies.

Want to join the Animal Liberation Project?  Email Tamara Bedic <tamara_bedic@yahoo.com> and tell her so!

The National Lawyers Guild Disability Justice Committee condemns proposed changes to Supplemental Security Income (SSI) that threaten to punish disabled people for surviving through family and community support. These policy shifts represent a continuation of the long-standing use of the law as a tool to discipline poverty, undermine collective care, and isolate disabled people from the very networks that sustain life.

As reflected in the federal regulatory agenda under Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (RIN 0960-AI94), proposed revisions to SSI rules would reduce or eliminate benefits for disabled people who live with family members, including parents and adult children. These changes would disproportionately impact disabled adults with high support needs, as well as older people forced by economic conditions to rely on shared housing arrangements.

Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) has lodged an attack on the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) by indicting the organization for alleged wire fraud, false statements, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. This is a clear signal to fascist organizations that they are safe and can continue their racist attacks against communities that they marginalize. It is also a clear warning to any of Trump’s perceived enemies. 

SPLC’s work has been vital in furthering the rights of people across the South and the nation. For over 50 years, SPLC has had a track record of fearlessly taking on the KKK and other white Christian Nationalist organizations. Their work ensures that all people in the U.S. can live and lead lives with dignity and without fear. Indeed, Trump, through the DOJ, picked SPLC as its latest political target because of this very impact. According to the indictment, SPLC “defrauded” donors by using paid informants to investigate and expose far-right hate groups. But this is precisely the work that donors wanted to support. 

The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) condemns in the strongest terms the United States Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais. This decision represents a mortal wounding of the Voting Rights Act (VRA).

Section 2 of the Act served as a bulwark against racist electoral districting and as a remedy for the dilution of Black and minority votes in favor of white votes. Gutting the last remaining section of the VRA is a direct assault on the rights and power of the Black people of the Black Belt. We know from history that this decision will unleash the systemic disenfranchisement of Black voters specifically in the South. Building on his decades-long effort to destroy the VRA, Chief Justice Roberts is leading the Court on a transparent mission to lock in Republican rule and enable the formal resegregation of the United States. This white-supremacist agenda is not confined to “Red” states or “Blue” states; no voter and no election will be spared the impact of this ruling. 

The National Lawyers Guild (“NLG”) submits this comment in strong opposition to the Department of Justice’s proposed rule amending 28 CFR Part 26 (“Proposed Rule”). The NLG is the nation’s oldest and largest progressive bar association, and our members across the country regularly represent individuals fighting capital punishment. Hence, the Proposed Rule directly affects our interests.

Before addressing the Proposed Rule’s specific legal defects, the NLG writes to situate those defects in their proper context: capital punishment in the United States has never operated fairly, and this Proposed Rule will amplify its unfairness. The NLG has consistently opposed capital punishment as incompatible with human dignity and equal justice. People on death row are disproportionately Black, brown, and poor, and the death penalty has unequally targeted them.

The National Lawyers Guild condemns in the strongest possible terms the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designation of four Palestinian and international organizers—Saif Abu Keshek, Mohammed Khatib, Jaldia Abubakra, and Hisham Abu Mahfouz—as being affiliated with or providing support to designated “foreign terrorist organizations” for their solidarity with Palestinian national liberation and the Palestinian people.

The sanctions unjustly imposed by OFAC come amidst an ongoing, two-and-a-half-year genocide that has killed, injured, and displaced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, destroyed the majority of Gaza’s infrastructure and agricultural land, and marks the latest chapter in over a century of Western imperialist-backed, Zionist settler-colonial ethnic cleansing and dispossession of the Palestinian people. Against this horrific backdrop, the courage and urgency of flotilla activists cannot be overstated. They risked abduction, torture, and death in their attempt to break this illegal, genocidal siege and deliver humanitarian aid. For this act of supreme moral clarity and courage, the United States has chosen to punish them and unjustifiably label the flotilla itself as “pro-terror.”

The NLG National Office and Mass Defense Committee is excited to share with all current NLG members a recording of the Federal Repression Member Meeting we recently held!

In the meeting, we covered: 

• Techniques and tactics being used by ICE and other law enforcement
• Best practices for responding to these attacks
• Role of legal support organizations like NLG

To access the recording, you'll need to log into your nlg.org website account. If you need help doing so, email membership@nlg.org

Here are some relevant resources that were shared:

• Muslims For Just Futures: The Criminalization of Solidarity
• Legal Observer Video Guidelines 
• Federal Assault by Sandwich, Whistle & Protest: An Explainer on 18 U.S.C. 111(a)(1)
• ICE on University Campuses: Know Your Risks & Fight Back!
• Assessing Risks in Supporting Immigrants at Points of Intervention: Understanding the “Harboring” Non-U.S. Citizens Federal Crime, 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(1)(A)

For even more mass defense resources please visit: https://www.nlg.org/members-only/members_mass_defense/

NLG is receiving more and more verified reports of federal agent door-knocks and contacts. If you are approached by federal law enforcement, don’t be afraid to alert your community, and remember:

You do not have to let them into your house without a warrant.

You have no obligation to speak to law enforcement or answer their questions, and it can be dangerous to do so.

It is a crime to lie to federal agents.

Instead, you can invoke your Fifth Amendment right to remain silent, and your Sixth Amendment right to counsel, by saying “I cannot answer any questions without my lawyer. Please leave your name and number, and a lawyer will call you.”

You can also call the National Lawyers Guild federal repression hotline at 212-679-2811, for a free, privileged consultation about your rights, risks, and responsibilities, and to be connected with appropriate legal resources in your jurisdiction.

We keep us safe!

The Mass Defense Steering Committee (MDSC), with the support of the Director of Mass Defense and in collaboration with on-the-ground partners, has created a Hotline Manual to support organizers running legal hotlines for protests and broader social movements.

This document is written with the worst case scenario in mind: starting a hotline from scratch in an area with little legal support infrastructure, during a sudden upswing in demonstrations, such as we saw following the police murder of George Floyd in 2020. However, many of the recommendations within should be relevant to more established hotlines. The system described in this manual is not necessarily the only one possible, but it is based on existing hotlines with strong track records.

Check out our NLG Member Orientation! This is for new, and newer members, so that y'all can learn about how the NLG is structured, how to reach out to other members, and ways that you can become involved with the NLG on a national level!