Opened in the 19th and early 20th centuries, Texas’s youth prisons were once known as “reform schools.” These large facilities were in rural areas far from the urban communities that most of the youth within their walls were arriving from and operated with little funding or oversight. It was believed at that time that incarcerating delinquent youths in rural areas removed them from bad influences and ensured public safety. However, these isolated facilities quickly became notorious for abuse and brutality.

You are arrested in Caldwell County, Texas, picked up off the street, and taken to jail, where you wait to see a magistrate for your first appearance. When the time comes, as you sit in a cell, the magistrate, who may or may not have a law degree, settles into a seat in another room in the jail, readying for you to be brought in, readying to pronounce the sum you will have to pay to go free.

Barbara McDowell met Justice O’Connor initially when she began clerking for Justice White in 1987. At that time, Justice O’Connor had been a Justice for six years. They shared a somewhat common experience. Justice O’Connor would often say that when she graduated from Stanford Law School at the top of her class in 1952 (third in her class of 102), she applied to numerous law firms and never received a job offer other than for a legal secretary position.  At one job interview, she related that she was asked how well she typed.

Discover how work permits can be a crucial solution to the housing crisis faced by recently arrived immigrants. 2023 Grantee, Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, sheds light on the pivotal role of timely work permit issuance, urging the Department of Homeland Security and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to align their practices with the law for a more inclusive and supportive society.

Over one year after Roe v. Wade's fall, women's reproductive rights are in jeopardy. Fourteen states have banned abortions, and some are targeting contraception. Justice Thomas's remarks suggest a trend of equating contraception with abortion. As politicians neglect efforts to secure contraception rights, access may dwindle. 2017 grantee and inaugural recipient of the Champion for Justice Award, Lisa Grafstein, details how vital it is to protect this fundamental healthcare right.

The Supreme Court decided on June 15, 2023, in Haaland v. Brackkeen that the Indian Child Welfare Act ("ICWA") passed in 1978 was constitutional and that its terms should be upheld. That statute which governs state court adoptions and foster care proceedings involving Native American children aims to keep Native American children connected to Native American families. The legal underpinnings of the decision are not discussed here. Rather, what is addressed is what the majority opinion by Justice Barrett did not decide: the equal protection challenge to the Act and its concomitant implications.

Four and a half feet by ten feet. Five feet by nine feet. Six feet by 10 feet. This is the size of many cells where people are held, for 22 hours or more every day, for days, weeks, years, and even decades. Every day, approximately 80,000 people in this country are held in solitary confinement while numerous challenges to solitary confinement in state and federal courts continue. 2023 grantee Uptown People’s Law Center explores the longstanding history,  continued use, and constitutionality of solitary confinement. 

What we all want for children and youth is safety, health, and to thrive. Yet too often those basic needs are not being met due to systemic issues in the United States around poverty, racism, and sexism, among other things. And one public system designed to intervene when children and families are in crisis – the child welfare system -- is causing more harm than help. 2023 Grantee National Center for Youth Law discusses the nuances of the child welfare system in the United States and strategies to address its failures.

For almost two decades, United States Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) has maintained a practice of confiscating passports, birth certificates, visas, and other essential documents from immigrants seeking to enter the United States. Children’s Legal Center explores this longstanding practice and shares the stories of individuals and families impacted by ICE’s pattern of abuse.

Over the past two decades, debt buyers—companies that buy old debts for pennies on the dollar—have filed millions of debt collection lawsuits and obtained millions of default judgments, against low-income New Yorkers, mostly those in predominantly Black and brown neighborhoods. 2022 Grantee New Economy Project explores the decades-long legal tactic disproportionately impacting disadvantaged New Yorkers and the legal progress being made to remedy this significant issue.

The story of the movement for LGBTQ+ equality over the past half century has been one of remarkable progress punctuated by moments of anti-equality reaction. Christopher Stoll, Senior Staff Attorney from the National Center for Lesbian Rights discusses the significant progress towards LGBTQ+ equality and how it has become increasingly challenged by anti-equality groups and legislation across the country.

Civil rights activists ask with much trepidation how much this term will the conservative Supreme Court, with its 6 to 3 majority, damage the pursuit of social justice in the United States? Foundation President Jerry Hartman analyzes the five cases that pose the threat of the loss of valued and treasured civil rights.

The five Supreme Court decisions affecting social justice issues in the Country this past term will have a profound effect on American lives for years to come. Foundation President Jerry Hartman recounts the five decisions that will most significantly erode core rights valued by so many Americans.

Our 2022 grantee, Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project (ASAP), pursued legal action to safeguard the rights of asylum seekers and ensure they are able to work legally and obtain Social Security numbers. In this Blog, ASAP conducted an interview with Wendi, a single mother from Guatemala who played a central role in ASAP's grant-funded case.

Foundation President Jerry Hartman recounts his 1972 visit to Philadelphia, Mississippi, the site of the murders of three civil rights workers in June 1964, and his harrowing experience with local law enforcement that underlined the state's commitment to hiding its violent and racist history.

In honor of the 50th anniversary of Geraldo Rivera’s Willowbrook exposé, former grantee Disability Rights New York examines the Willowbrook legacy and the work that still remains in overcoming substantial barriers for people living with disabilities.

The Foundation joins its voice to all of those who condemn the draft decision written by Justice Alito overruling Roe v. Wade and its implications for civil liberty in this Country.

In light of the recent argument at the Supreme Court in the Dobbs case, the Barbara McDowell Foundation caught up with 2021 grantee Gender Justice to discuss updates on their grant-funded case and the implications of the Supreme Court’s potential ruling on the Dobbs case.