Renewed War on Drugs, harsher charging policies, stepped-up criminalization of immigrants — in the current climate, joining the NACDL is more important than ever. Members of NACDL help to support the only national organization working at all levels of government to ensure that the voice of the defense bar is heard.
Take a stand for a fair, rational, and humane criminal legal system
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NACDL is committed to enhancing the capacity of the criminal defense bar to safeguard fundamental constitutional rights.
NACDL harnesses the unique perspectives of NACDL members to advocate for policy and practice improvements in the criminal legal system.
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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May we comply with a requirement to submit confidential attorney-client communications for review by a “Privilege Team” composed of law enforcement and intelligence officers without judicial oversight, and the provisions barring us from communicating on certain topics with our clients, whether or not those topics are directly related to our representation, consistent with our ethical obligations?
Amicus Curiae Brief of the Petitioner, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in Support of the Real Party in Interest.
President John Wesley Hall and Military Law Committee co-chair Donald Rehkopf's letter to House and Senate Judiciary Committee leadership regarding Equal Justice for Our Military Act of 2009 (H.R. 569/S. 357).
In his Keynote Address at NACDL’s conference in Miami, Brigadier General John G. Baker, head of the Military Commissions Defense Organization (MCDO), shared his views regarding the events that have unfolded at Guantanamo Bay. General Baker, who supervises the defense teams, discussed some of the major issues facing the MCDO defense teams, saying that these issues “shine a light on why lawyering matters and what it truly means to be a criminal defense attorney.”
A judge, while presiding over a case at Guantanamo, secretly negotiated for a job as an immigration judge in the U.S. Department of Justice (Executive Office for Immigration Review). Thus, the judge presided over a case in which his potential employer appeared. That alone should be sufficient grounds to require disqualification.
Military service members — subject to both civilian and military courts — present special challenges to criminal defense attorneys. A service member arrested for an on-base DUI may be prosecuted under the Uniform Code of Military Justice by (1) administrative sanctions under an Article 15 nonjudicial punishment, (2) a combination of nonjudicial punishment and a nonmilitary federal prosecution, or (3) a court-martial. A service member arrested for DUI while not on his or her assigned base is subject to the local state laws and punishments as well as Article 15 nonjudicial punishment. Sometimes the discipline from the military in a DUI case can be used to lighten or eliminate the punishment from a civilian court.
