What we are dealing with is a rogue government that persists in disregarding the law whenever, wherever and however it chooses.

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** For Immediate Release: August 29, 2019
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** Rutherford Institute Challenges Gov't Efforts to Sidestep Rule of Law, Undermine Sixth Amendment Right to Legal Counsel
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NEW YORK, N.Y. — Pushing back against efforts to sidestep the rule of law and disregard fundamental protections for the rights of the accused, The Rutherford Institute has asked a federal appeals court to prohibit government officials from undermining the Sixth Amendment’s assurance of the right to legal counsel ([link removed]) .

In a joint amicus brief filed in Federal Defenders of N.Y. v. Federal Bureau of Prisons ([link removed]) before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, The Rutherford Institute, the ACLU and the Constitutional Accountability Center have come to the defense of public defenders prevented from meeting with jailed clients awaiting trial in New York City.

“What we are dealing with is a rogue government that persists in disregarding the law whenever, wherever and however it chooses,” said constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute and author of Battlefield America: The War on the American People ([link removed]) . “To allow any government agency or individual to sidestep the rule of law without being strongly denounced and reined in by the citizenry and their representatives will give rise to a tyrannical regime. This is how freedom dies.”
MAKE THE GOVERNMENT PLAY BY THE RULES OF THE CONSTITUTION: SUPPORT THE FIGHT FOR FREEDOM ([link removed])

Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), is one of the main detention centers for persons awaiting trial on federal charges in the New York City area. About 1,600 persons are held at MDC. Because persons held at MDC have not been convicted, they need to meet regularly with their attorneys in order to prepare for trial, a right assured by the Sixth Amendment ([link removed]) . Although MDC’s stated policy is to allow attorney visits between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m., it regularly cancels this access without notice and for dubious reasons such as “staffing issues.”

Beginning on January 28, 2019, MDC announced wholesale cancellation of attorney visits ([link removed]) for days and failed to provide adequate explanation for barring defense attorneys access to their clients. It was later revealed that individuals at the detention center had, during the period of no access to their lawyers, been left in the dark and without medical, commissary and other services as a result of an electrical fire and power outage at MDC. Federal Defenders, an organization dedicated to ensuring that the accused have access to legal counsel, sought information about the conditions at MDC and demanded that lawyer access to clients be restored. MDC officials insisted conditions at the jail were fine, but when they were forced to allow a Federal Defenders attorney access to the facility
under a court order, the attorney found the conditions to be deplorable: individuals were being detained in darkened cells, some had not had food for days, and the facility was painfully cold.

Federal Defenders filed a lawsuit alleging that the restrictions on its attorneys’ access to clients at MDC violated the Sixth Amendment’s guarantee to assistance of counsel. However, the district court dismissed the claim, ruling that attorneys do not have legal standing to enforce the constitutional right to counsel. In its amicus brief ([link removed]) supporting the appeal before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, The Rutherford Institute and its coalition partners argue that the district court’s ruling conflicts with the historic power of federal courts to order that federal officials stop violating the Constitution and is a dangerous precedent that could prevent courts from assuring that all constitutional rights are obeyed by government officers.

The brief ([link removed]) in Federal Defenders of N.Y. v. Federal Bureau of Prisons is available at www.rutherford.org.

The Rutherford Institute ([link removed]) , a nonprofit civil liberties organization, provides legal assistance at no charge to individuals whose constitutional rights have been threatened or violated and educates the public on a wide spectrum of issues affecting their freedoms.

This press release is also available at www.rutherford.org (#) .

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Nisha Whitehead
(434) 978-3888 ext. 604
** [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])

THE RUTHERFORD INSTITUTE
Post Office Box 7482
Charlottesville, VA 22906-7482
Phone: (434) 978-3888
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Copyright © 2019 The Rutherford Institute, All rights reserved.

You are receiving this email because of your interest in the work of The Rutherford Institute. Founded in 1982 by constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead, The Rutherford Institute is a civil liberties organization that provides free legal services to people whose constitutional and human rights have been threatened or violated. To discontinue your membership electronically, or if you feel you are receiving this message in error, please follow the link below.

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