Supreme Court in Roberts’s First Term Reveals Little About Federal Court Access

With two new justices sitting on the U.S. Supreme Court, including Chief Justice John Roberts, the legal community waited to see what decisions would unfold in Justice Roberts’s first term. According to Clearinghouse Review: Journal of Poverty Law and Policy, “this past term the Supreme Court revealed little about its approach to federal access issues.” The Federal Court Access Group, a set of legal aid lawyers organized by Gill Deford, has written over ten articles for the Review about decisions affecting poor people’s ability to access the federal court system. In the November–December 2006 Review, the current issue, the group discusses why the decisions in the first term of the Roberts era did not reveal a new direction for the Court.

In many of the term’s cases the holdings were based on narrow issues and did not force the new Court to produce any remarkable decisions regarding federal court access. However, in a notable case, the Court’s interpretation of the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995 narrowed federal court access for incarcerated persons. The Court also restrictively interpreted certain provisions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). In the current term’s upcoming cases, including the controversial issues of abortion and affirmative action in public schools, the Court will show whether its stance will continue to lean toward the conservative side in federal court access issues.

Published by the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, the November–December 2006 Review also features the following articles by advocates and attorneys across the country:

·    “The Unionization of State-Subsidized Home Child Care Providers in Illinois and Its Effect on the State’s Child Care Assistance Program” by Dan Lesser
·    “Landlord Sexual Assault and Rape of Tenants: Survey Findings and Advocacy Approaches” by Theresa Keeley
·    “Third-Party Notification of Eviction Actions: An Opportunity for Advocates to Help End Homelessness” by Emily Nugent and Peyton Whiteley
·    “Continuing Disability Reviews: What Advocates Need to Know” by Linda Landry
·    “Affirmatively Litigating—Communicating with Your Expert Witness: Is Your Work Product Protected?” By Greg Bass
·    “Still Segregated After All These Years” by Elizabeth K. Julian


If you would like to schedule an interview with a legal editor or advocate, please contact Rikeesha Cannon at 312.368.2677. For more information on how you can subscribe to Clearinghouse Review: Journal of Poverty Law and Policy and other Shriver Center publications, please visit our website at www.povertylaw.org.

Published bimonthly by the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, Clearinghouse Review: Journal of Poverty Law and Policy is an advocate’s best resource for information on developments in poverty law. Each issue of the Review features in-depth, analytical articles, written by experts in their fields, on topics of interest to poor people’s and public interest lawyers. Substantive areas covered include civil rights, family law, disability, domestic violence, housing, elder law, employment, health, and welfare reform. The Review also occasionally features notes on poverty law being litigated by legal aid advocates across the country.