NSCLC has a long history of opposing judicial activism aimed at closing courthouse doors to ordinary individuals seeking justice. In that tradition, the Federal Rights Project continues its leading role in fighting the pending constitutional challenges to the Affordable Care Act that could dismantle the landmark health reform law and threaten widespread collateral damage to Medicaid and many other vital legal guarantees.
The Project:
- Provides strategic analyses of legal and legislative developments, training, and assistance to litigators, policy advocates, and public officials;
- Advocates before courts, agencies, and legislative bodies
- Promotes awareness of the importance of courts to commit to robust statutory and constitutional rights; and
- Provides a network of advocates nationwide with a forum and important commentary on recent case developments. Find information about the Federal Rights Listserv and how to subscribe. Read recent and past case analyses.
2012 Priorities
We seek to:
- Refocus conversation about the role of U.S. courts to spotlight the threat to the rights of ordinary people posed by conservative judicial activism.
- Prevent the expansion of doctrines that obstruct court access and the ability to enforce civil rights, safety net, consumer and other progressive laws.
- Educate, coordinate, and mobilize advocates and communities to oppose common threats to court access and effective enforcement of progressive laws.
2011 Accomplishments
Last year, NSCLC’s Federal Rights Project:
- Fought for the constitutionality of the health reform law through speaking out in many venues and through drafting and filing several friend of the court briefs as the state cases worked their way to the Supreme Court.
- Defended the right of Medicaid beneficiaries to use the courts to challenge illegal benefit cuts in a case heard by the Supreme Court using blogs and national media as well as working with the attorneys handling the appeal (Douglas v ILC).
- In a victory for the supremacy of federal benefit and civil rights guarantees, ensured that a state agency — created to defend individuals’ rights –can bring suit in Federal court through acting as lead author and counsel of record for the friend of the court brief (Virginia Office for Protection and Advocacy v Reinhard).
The Project also filed amicus briefs in a Supreme Court case, CompuCredit v Greenwood,and a federal appeals court case, Center for Special Needs Trust Administration v Olson. The former involved consumers’ right to sure a credit report agency and the latter concerned whether a letter from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services constituted set policy.
