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There has been well-founded excitement about people with public defender experience being appointed to the federal bench. Massachusetts state courts also have disproportionate representation by former prosecutors on the bench. Mass Lawyers Weekly recently published an opinion piece by MACDL member Sadiq Reza (PDF below) about the need for more defense attorneys (and specifically public defenders) on the bench. If you are interested in pursuing […]

From Chauncey B. Wood, MACDL Amicus Curiae Committee

The Amicus Brief for Commonwealth vs. Bailey-Sweeting (available for viewing and download below) explains why gang databases are artificial racist constructs and unreliable indicators of criminal behavior. Therefore, the fact that someone has been placed in a gang database should not be a basis for reasonable suspicion that he or she has committed a crime.

Much like recent scholarship and legal advocacy […]