NACDL - National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers

Letter with NACDL New York affiliate NYSACDL to Department of Justice leadership regarding unsafe, inhumane, and unconstitutional conditions persisting at the Rikers Island Correctional Facility.

Letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland regarding former Attorney General William Barr's ruling in Matter of Thomas and Matter of Thompson, 27 I. & N. Dec. 674 (AG 2019) changing DOJ and DHS policy so state courts can only affect immigration sentencing if related to underlying criminal proceedings and not the immigration case.

Comments with FAMM to Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco regarding U.S. Attorney offices requiring waiver of the right to seek compassionate release during plea negotiations.

Comments to the Department of Justice National Security Division responding to the department’s request for suggestions on clarifying and modernizing the implementing regulations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (FARA).

Comments to the Bureau of Prisons Office of General Counsel regarding a proposed rule to apply good-time credits earned under First Step Act provisions to individuals in BOP custody with convictions under the D.C. Code.

Coalition letter to Department of Justice leadership regarding the need to reevaluate a January 2021 memo from the Office of Legal Counsel that outlined a plan to return to federal prison people who had been released to home confinement under CARES Act (H.R. 748, 2020) provisions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and proposing solutions to assured logistical issues and unfairness should the memo be heeded as written and currently interpreted.

NACDL Counsel and Director of First Step Act Resource Center Elizabeth A. Blackwood’s written statement to the Department of Justice upon NACDL’s participation in a stakeholder listening session regarding realization of reforms outlined in the FIRST STEP Act (S. 756), signed into law in December 2018 and still in the process of being implemented.

NACDL President Chris Adams’ comments to Attorney General Merrick Garland regarding the need for public defenders and appointed counsel for people facing incarceration in tribal courts, for consideration by the Legal Aid Interagency Roundtable.

Coalition letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland regarding the risks of contracting COVID-19 for those living and working in carceral facilities, and the release options available to reduce that risk through compassionate release, home confinement, and other CARES Act-authorized release programs (H.R.748, 2020).

Comments submitted to the Federal Bureau of Prisons with FAMM and the Justice Action Network regarding a proposed rule on earned time credits authorized by the FIRST Step Act of 2018 (S. 756).

NACDL's statement to the Presidential Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice regarding the need for more accountability and transparency in policing to effect meaningful, much-needed reforms.

Coalition letter to Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons Michael Carvajal regarding the lack of demographic information included in its daily reports of systemwide COVID-19 cases.

Coalition letter to Attorney General William Barr regarding building on the Department of Justice's response to the COVID-19 pandemic in federal facilities, and the potential to lead states to do the same.

Comments to Attorney General William Barr regarding the Risk and Needs Assessment System in the implementation of the First Step Act of 2018 (S. 756).

Letter to Attorney General William Barr regarding the Department of Justice's lacking implementation of the FIRST Step Act of 2018 (S. 756).

The undersigned organizations write to express concern over the Justice Department’s demand for information associated with a website used to organize protests on Inauguration Day. While the government, in the face of mounting public pressure, has significantly narrowed its initial demand for data on every individual who visited the site, we remain concerned that the government made its sweeping request in the first place – and that it continues to maintain that this request was legal and appropriate.

We represent a wide range of privacy and human rights advocates, technology companies, and trade associations that hold an equally wide range of positions on surveillance reform. Many of us have differing views on exactly what reforms must be included in any bill reauthorizing USA PATRIOT Act Section 215, which currently serves as the legal basis for the NSA’s bulk collection of telephone metadata and is set to expire on June 1, 2015. Our broad, diverse, and bipartisan coalition believes that the status quo is untenable and that it is urgent that Congress move forward with reform.

We write today to urge the Department of Justice (DOJ) to quickly complete an updated Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) for the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Next Generation Identification System (NGI) as part of a broader effort to examine the goals and impact of NGI. The previous PIA on NGI’s face recognition component dates back to 2008. Since that time the program has undergone a radical transformation—one that raises serious privacy and civil liberties concerns.

We write to urge you not to renew the Section 215 Bulk Telephony Metadata Program when the current order expires on June 20, 2014. The program is not effective. It should end.

Letter from NACDL Executive Director Norman L. Reimer and NACDL affiliates' leadership to FBI Director James Comey regarding the FBI's policy on recording custodial interrogations, especially for those suspected of felony offenses.

NACDL undersigned a letter to the U.S. government on July 18, 2013 urging greater transparency around national security-related requests by the US government to Internet, telephone, and web-based service providers for information about their users and subscribers.

NACDL undersigned a letter on July 8, 2013 to Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr. and Michael E. Horowitz to ask that the Department of Justice make public any findings by the Department’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) regarding the collection of Americans’ telephone records under Section 215 of the Patriot Act.

NACDL President Lisa Wayne's comments to the Department of Justice Office of Legal Policy regarding a proposed rule that would allow states to limit federal review of capital post-conviction cases.

Coalition letter to Department of Justice Criminal Division Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer and Securities and Exchange Commission Director of Enforcement Robert Khuzami regarding enforcement of and forthcoming guidance for the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

NACDL President Jim Lavine's comments to the Department of Justice Office of Legal Policy regarding a proposed rule that would allow states to limit federal review of capital post-conviction cases.

Letter to Attorney General Eric Holder regarding responses to and actions concerning prison rape.

We write to express our concern about your recent call to restrict the constitutional rights of individuals in the United States suspected of terrorist activity by seeking to codify or expand the “public safety exception” to Miranda v. Arizona. Current law provides ample flexibility to protect the public against imminent terrorist threats while still permitting the use of statements made by the accused in a criminal prosecution. Weakening Miranda would undercut our fundamental Fifth Amendment rights for no perceptible gain.

Letter to Attorney General Eric Holder regarding responses to and actions concerning prison rape.

Letter with Families Against Mandatory Minimums to the Bureau of Prisons general counsel regarding proposed changes to facility and reentry placement, and community programs.

Comments to the Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs regarding proposed regulations in capital cases to address competent and well-funded counsel, post-conviction review, wrongful conviction, and racial disparity issues.

Comments to the Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs SMART Office regarding sex offender registration and community notification.

Comments to the Department of Justice regarding implementation of provisions of the Adam Walsh Act to affect individuals with past sexual offense convictions.

Letter to the Federal Bureau of Prisons general counsel regarding proposed sentencing reductions for medical reasons.