I write to you today to urge you to grant clemency to Leonard Peltier, an 80-year-old member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa and boarding school survivor who has spent nearly five decades in federal prison. His case has become a symbol of hope and resilience in the face of systemic injustices. Indeed, Mr. Peltier is an icon of the American Indian Movement who has devoted his life to fighting for the liberation of Indigenous Peoples.

We write to you with a united voice and call on you to use your Executive power and grant commutations to everyone currently facing the death penalty at the federal level.

Attached is the testimony of Clare Garvie, Fourth Amendment Center Training and Resource Counsel, for the U.S. Commission on Human Rights' hearing on Civil Rights Implications of the Federal Use of Facial Recognition Technology. Her testimony highlights how the use of facial recognition technology in the criminal legal system intersects with the Commission’s mandate to inform civil rights policy, enhance enforcement of federal civil rights laws, and investigate discrimination in the administration of justice. 

NACDL welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Drug Enforcement Agency’s proposed rule on the status of marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act. NACDL urges the DEA to reconsider its proposed rule and issue a new rule to deschedule marijuana. Rescheduling marijuana to Schedule III will not end federal marijuana arrests, even for possession and use, it will not release anyone from prison, and it will not expunge previous marijuana arrests from individuals’ criminal records. NACDL contends that rescheduling marijuana is simply not enough, and marijuana should be federally descheduled.

NACDL, with its diverse membership of 10,000 spanning state, federal, and military practice, wishes to express its views on preferred Commission priorities. We concur with other advocates and stakeholders that current sentences are excessively long, and certain sentencing factors disproportionately affect racial minorities within the criminal legal system. Whatever issues the Commission determines to prioritize, these flaws should be foremost in considering potential amendments.

NACDL respectfully submits the following comments on whether recently promulgated amendments should be included in the Guidelines Manual as changes that may be applied retroactively to previously sentenced defendants. These comments address Amendment 1 (relating to acquitted conduct). NACDL also supports retroactivity for Parts A and B of Amendment 3 and Part D of Amendment 5 and adopts the comments of the Federal Defenders on those amendments.

NACDL is pleased to submit our comments with respect to the proposed changes to Federal Rule of Evidence 609(a)(1). … Our members have substantial experience with the challenges created by Rule 609 and have submitted amicus briefs before the Oregon Supreme Court and Supreme Court of the State of Washington related to the state counterparts of Rule 609’s impact on the people in each jurisdiction. In line with our dedication to advancing the proper, efficient, and just administration of justice, we would like to offer the following comments on the proposed change to Rule 609(a)(1).

NACDL’s top line recommendation on data-driven policing tools is that police departments must not utilize data-driven policing technologies because they are ineffective; lack scientific validity; create, replicate and exacerbate “self-perpetuating cycles of bias”; hyper-criminalize individuals, families, and communities of color; and divert resources and funds from communities that should be allocated towards social services and community-led public safety initiatives.

This comment from the Fourth Amendment Center addresses the National Institute of Standards and Technology's report "Digital Investigation Techniques: A Scientific Foundation Review."

NACDL comments to the Executive Office of the President Office of Science and Technology Policy responding to a request for information regarding the use of biometric technology.

Below are NACDL's comments on Executive Order 14074 on Advancing Effective, Accountable Policing and Criminal Justice Practices to Enhance Public Trust and Public Safety. The policing technologies at issue in the Executive Order create serious harms for individual criminal defendants, their lawyers, and the criminal legal system more broadly. In this comment, NACDL aims to highlight the serious dangers that these technologies pose and propose recommendations for mitigating those dangers.

We advocate for immediate commutation of sentences, compassionate release, and second chances for persons convicted of non-violent marijuana offenses. The continued prosecution of marijuana crimes continues to cause irreparable harm on real people and their families. Men and women languish in federal prisons across this country for conduct today that has been legalized in many states and under statues that have been rewritten to reflect the evolving landscape in the field of marijuana.

NACDL has serious concerns with many of the changes in the proposed rule Inmate Discipline Program: Disciplinary Segregation and Prohibited Act Code Changes, 89 FR 6455. …the proposed regulations provide no protections for people in administrative segregation and other forms of solitary confinement. Second, the creation and elevation of disciplinary violations … will lead to arbitrary and capricious enforcement and further erode public trust in the agency. Third, the proposed ban on social media accounts … impedes a critical component of successful reentry...

The National Association of Defense Lawyers (NACDL) respectfully submits the following comments on these important proposed amendments.

On behalf of NACDL, we write to address the need to amend Rule 17 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure to allow the parties to issue subpoenas for documents and tangible items to third parties without leave of Court. … The current Rule 17 is ambiguous in critical respects, leading to disparate application that threatens the ability of defense counsel to adequately investigate, develop, and present available defenses, and thus to provide the level of assistance required by the Constitution.