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NACDL is committed to enhancing the capacity of the criminal defense bar to safeguard fundamental constitutional rights.
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NACDL envisions a society where all individuals receive fair, rational, and humane treatment within the criminal legal system.
NACDL’s mission is to serve as a leader, alongside diverse coalitions, in identifying and reforming flaws and inequities in the criminal legal system, and redressing systemic racism, and ensuring that its members and others in the criminal defense bar are fully equipped to serve all accused persons at the highest level.
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The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and NACDL filed a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) seeking public records detailing the Department of Justice’s implementation of December 2022 memoranda establishing new policies for all federal prosecutors’ charging and sentencing practices.
NACDL sued the Justice Department seeking disclosure of its Federal Criminal Discovery Blue Book. This publication reportedly covers the law, policy, and practice of prosecutors’ disclosure obligations. The U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the lower court’s decision that the publication is protected work product. Included here are key pleadings filed in the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers' (NACDL) Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit seeking the Department of Justice's Federal Criminal Discovery Blue Book.
Reply Supporting Compassionate Release (March 15, 2021)
Supplemental Reply Supporting Compassionate Release (March 19, 2021)
Motion for Compassionate Release (March 11, 2021)
Order Granting Compassionate Release Under D.C. Code (Feb. 1, 2021)
Order Granting Federal Compassionate Release (April 23, 2021)
Case materials from the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) prosecution of Amaro Goncalves, United States v. Amaro Goncalves, et al., No. 09-CR-335-RJL.
Letter to the Advisory Committee on Local Rules chairman regarding proposed changes to criminal disclosure rules in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Attorney-client communications federal caselaw and state-specific anecdotal data in District of Columbia
In November 2005, Scanlon pled guilty to a one-count information charging conspiracy with three objects, bribery, mail and wire fraud, and honest services fraud. Folling the Skilling decision, Scanlon moved to modify or amend his plea agreement. The court ordered brief, heard oral argument, and on November 30, 2010, denied the motion. On February 11, 2011, District Court Judge Huvelle sentenced Scanlon to 20 months in federal prison.
The first trial, held in fall 2009, resulted in a hung jury on all ten counts (six under 18 USC 1346 and one conspiracy). In response to the government’s attempt to bring the case to trial again, Ring filed a motion for judgment of acquittal, based heavily on the recent Skilling decision. D.C. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle denied to motion and case went to trial in fall 2010.
Amicus Curiae Brief of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in Support of Defendant.
NACDL amicus curiae brief in support of petitioner-appellee Salim Ahmed Hamdan. Military commissions created by Respondents are incompatible with the express or implied will of Congress. Constitutionally, there is no “inherent” Presidential authority to create these military commissions and challenge to their jurisdiction via habeas corpus has long been recognized in our military law.
Amicus curiae brief of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in support of appellant.
Amicus curiae brief of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, the Constitution Project, the Rutherford Institute, and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in support of Petitioner.
Amicus curiae brief of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in support of Petitioner – Appellee Mohamedou Ould Salahi urging affirmance of the district court’s decision granting habeas petitioner’s plea for release from Guantanamo Bay Naval Station, Cuba.
