NACDL News: DOJ Submits Landmark Filing On Unconstitutional Bail Practices and the Indigent

The Department of Justice filed a landmark Statement of Interest on Feb. 13 on behalf of the United States in Varden v. City of Clanton, which is pending in the U.S. District Court for in the Middle District of Alabama. In that filing, the DOJ is clear — “Incarcerating individuals solely because of their inability to pay for their release, whether through the payment of fines, fees, or a cash bond, violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.